Getting a Better Read on Blitzes in the Hudl Beta

Because we will face a variety of blitzes on any potential down, we put a considerable amount of effort into preparing for this.  Using the Hudl Beta, we’ll develop reports on how often an opponent blitzes, and which ones they’ll use in certain situations. This saves us time and allows us to spend that time working on ways to counter the blitzes.

We’ll categorize blitzes in many ways, including:

• Mike (with or without DL stunt)
• Sam (with or without DL stunt)
• Will (with or without DL stunt)
• Corner
• Safety
• Multi (multi backers, backer +DB)—we’ll get specific with this category

This game is a good example. We emphasize converting on third downs, and this opponent blitzed on 51 percent of them. Within that, there was a particular one they loved. Seeing this allowed us to slide our running back to one side and set protection based on down, distance and initial defensive look.

With that information in mind, we could develop and rep protection adjustments and specific plays on third down that we felt would be successful. In the game, we faced nine third down plays and threw on six of them. Of the six, our opponent blitzed on four of them. We picked up three of the blitzes successfully and converted all three times—one of which went for a touchdown.

As with any college program, BSU always looks for ways to enhance our preparation and work smarter. Hudl Beta allows us to do that in a variety of ways and pays dividends on the field.