Pass Rush Twist vs. Empty

Here Wisconsin is in a 4-2-5 Nickel personnel with OLB bodies at DE. The Mike LB is walked up to create a bear front spacing.

The Rush:

3 man twist game with the Mike and DT penetrating and the boundary rush looping inside

The Coverage:

Cover 1 man free with the field side Rush LB dropping to play the rat in the hole

The initial alignment vs. empty of all 5 OL covered creates man blocking across the board. The guard opposite the twist is forced to widen initially with the DT in the B gap. 

The width the OG gets in his set does two things:
1. Creates space for the looping Rush
2. Makes the Guard late to provide help to the Center

The Center has a difficult set here also. The Center sets to the mugged up Mike. The Mike's speed and width force the Center to set hard and commit. The aggressiveness of the Center's set makes it difficult to redirect on the twist.

Nice usage of a pre-snap bear front presentation to get the the OL manned up. Covering all the OL gets more mileage out of a traditional four down front pass rush game. Four down pass rush twists can be picked up most effectively when the free OL is able to provide help to adjacent OL allowing the twisting rushers to be passed off. Covering all 5 OL and forcing help from a free OL to be late makes this twist effective. The usage of OLB's at DE also helps this call succeed. Hybrid players on the edge are both capable as pass rushers and in coverage drops. The uncertainty of their role for the OL helps create difficult pass set situations. Good execution from the Badgers and scheme from Jim Leonard.