JD PicKell: Miami's new defensive scheme means more speed on the field

New Miami football coach Mario Cristobal has already kicked off a complete overhaul in his first offseason, updating everything from the coaching staff to the recruiting plan. However, with attention focused off the field now, it is easy to forget the changes he will bring on the field as the 2022 season begins a new era for the Hurricanes.

On3’s JD PicKell broke down the complete expectations for Miami, including a deep dive on their new 4-2-5 defensive scheme which will help Mario Cristobal utilize the pool of local talent he has already recruited to join the unit moving forward.

“The defense for Miami is something that a lot of people should be excited about,” said PicKell. “They’re running a 4-2-5 defense. Any time you’re throwing out numbers to describe personnel, that kind of feels daunting. A 4-2-5 defense just means you have four down linemen – four big boys up front – you’ve got two linebackers as kind of your combos, still big boys, and then you’ve got five defensive backs. That’s important because those five defensive backs are typically fast guys. So with so many fast guys on the field, it’s an answer to what a lot of people are doing in college football right now with the spread offense.

“When you have five fast guys, you’re able to run sideline to sideline. If they want to throw the ball horizontally and get those bubble screens going, Miami is, in principle, going to have the guys on the field to chase down those playmakers. You’re getting a lot of speed on the field.”

More about Miami defensive scheme

As JD PicKell continued to talk about Mario Cristobal’s vision for Miami’s defensive scheme, he broke down the overarching philosophy which allows for success against the opponent – whether a struggling group or high-powered machine.

“The other advantage to a 4-2-5 defense is with five defensive backs, in theory, you keep a lot of the offense in front of you,” said PicKell. Essentially, you’re going to allow more underneath routes. They may allow for the crossing route, they may allow for the checkdown, but you’re not going to give up the big play. You’re trying to mitigate the big play by allowing for more underneath. So the bet there is that eventually you’re going to be able to jump one of those routes, and then the other bet is that the offense is going to get impatient.

“They’re going to get tired of taking three yards to dump it off. Quarterbacks are greedy. They’re people just like you and me, they’re greedy. They get caught with their hand in the cookie jar. So when they do go deep, they’re going to have more defensive backs back there to try to make a play on that football.”