Clemson Football: The switch to a 4-3 defense allows youth to grow

The 2020 Clemson football team is expected to switch back to a 4-3 scheme defensively, which will allow for the youth in the secondary to grow up.

No one should ever doubt the genius of Clemson football Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables.

Venables, the nation’s best defensive coordinator, made a switch during the 2019 season that left Clemson football fans puzzled, but it worked like a charm.

Though the Tigers have always played multiple schemes defensively- and will continue to do so- Venables made the decision to move to a 3-3-5 base for the 2019 Clemson football season and the result had the Tiger finish with one of the top defenses in the country.

Venables used the skill he had, knowing that the experience was in the secondary, and built his defense on the defensive backfield with Isaiah Simmons playing all over the field. It worked to perfection.

Now, as we head into the 2020 Clemson football season, Simmons and many of those defensive backs- including Tanner Muse, K’Von Wallace and A.J. Terrell– are now gone.

So what will Venables do? Well the expectation is a switch back to a 4-3 base defense.

Switching back to a 4-3 base will allow the Tigers to place an emphasis on where they have the most depth and experience: The defensive line.

With basically every starter and second-stringer (other than Logan Rudolph) returning on this year’s team, it only makes sense that Venables would put an emphasis on the defensive line and allow the depth of that unit to be the driving force behind the unit, just as he did in 2018 with Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence, Clelin Ferrell and Austin Bryant.

Placing emphasis on the defensive line does something else for the unit, as well: It allows the youth in the secondary to grow up.

It’s a pretty simple concept: You don’t have to cover your man near as long if the defensive line is creating pressure in the backfield.

That puts less pressure on some of the young guys- like Sheridan Jones, Andrew Booth Jr., Ray Thornton and others- and deflects some of the flaws they may have early. It also allows veterans like Nolan Turner and Derion Kendrick to thrive and transition into new roles of leadership without too much being placed on them at one time.

We’re going to see the Tigers go back to a 4-3 base this season and the reason is two-fold. Venables knows exactly what he’s doing and it’s going to be interesting to see what this defense is able to accomplish this season after two-straight years of being one of the top units in the land.