Hard-Hitting Stuff : Moorpark College Writes Book on Defense: Players Must Read Well

A group of students at Moorpark College are just now learning to read. They’re taking remedial reading but with a different spin on the old Dick and Jane primers. They’re learning to read Dick’s block and shed it, to not be confused when Jane shows a false key and tries to decoy them, and, finally, to establish a good line of pursuit on Spot, wrap him up with good leverage and take him down hard.

These new readers aren’t a bunch of budding bookworms, though; they’re learning how to play Moorpark’s “reading” defense. If the games (call them “Weekly Readers”) are an indication, the Moorpark defenders have learned reading and aren’t doing too poorly on the other two “Rs,” rocking their opponents’ world and routing battered foes.

After allowing only 17 points in its first four games and recording two shutouts, the Moorpark defense has advanced beyond merely reading to a form of literary criticism--deconstruction. Thanks in large part to the defense, Moorpark is 4-0 and ranked fourth in Southern California, sixth in the state, entering a game Saturday against defending state champion Bakersfield.

“We’ve established a reputation of being an outstanding defensive team,” Moorpark Coach Jim Bittner said.

Most college teams currently run one of two defensive systems, the reading defense or a “Bear” package. The Bear is named after the famous “46” and other defenses Buddy Ryan popularized as the defensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears.

The Bear package is a pressure-oriented, penetrating, big-play scheme that relies on overloading the line and leaving defensive backs in man-to-man coverage.

The reading defense, by contrast, is a reactive system in which defenders attempt to read what the offensive player is doing and respond accordingly. Players are given keys, which help them anticipate what the offense will do.

It’s a role-playing defense in which players don’t simply play the gaps but control the gaps. Moorpark plays its reading defense with three linemen and four linebackers but occasionally will shift to a four-man front, particularly on passing downs.

“It’s fairly complicated,” Bittner said. “We are moving according to your movement. What you are doing as a defensive lineman or outside linebacker depends entirely on what the person in front of you does.”

One of the most important aspects is coordination. Moorpark rarely plays man-to-man defense in the secondary and instead relies on zone coverage in a bend-but-not-break scheme.

“We want our secondary, No. 1, to have control of the field and keep everything in front of them,” Bittner said. “I really think the key to pass defense is a pass rush. If we can’t get a rush with four, we’ll send five. If we can’t get him with five, we’ll send six.”

Instead of cracking the books, the Moorpark defense cracks running backs.

Moorpark led the state last season in least yardage allowed per game and held its opponents scoreless for five consecutive halves this season. East Los Angeles could only muster one touchdown, and that came on what East L. A. Coach Al Padilla called “a perfect play.”

Last Saturday, Pierce dented the Raiders with 294 yards and 10 points, but for the season, Moorpark is allowing fewer than 200 yards a game.

Defensive lineman John Goslin, the Western State Conference Most Valuable Defensive Player in 1988, now plays for Fresno State, but Moorpark still welcomed back a nucleus of talented sophomores.

Free safety Troy Thomas (5-feet-10, 182 pounds) and outside linebacker Thomas Briggs (6-6, 235) were first-team All-WSC. Defensive lineman Don Anderson (6-2, 268) and linebacker Scott Yurek (6-3, 215) were second-team WSC selections. Strong safety Mack Humphrey is a transfer from Montana. Experienced players are crucial to Moorpark’s system.

For many college freshmen, learning to play a reading defense is about as easy as reading Cyrillic--in a mirror.

“I’ve learned to read the guy in front of me and and know where the ball’s going to go,” sophomore defensive tackle Dave Joller said. “In high school, it’s just look in the backfield and go. It took me about two months to get reading down.”

Moving from the level of reading required in high school football to that required by Moorpark is like going from Danielle Steele to Ezra Pound.

The Moorpark staff teaches the ABCs of reading in intensive practice and film sessions. Bittner tutors the defensive backs, defensive coordinator Gil Mendoza has the linemen, and Fran Fredette and John Lorenzano work with the linebackers.

“There’s really no coach coaching more than four people,” Bittner said. “We can spend some time covering things like proper leverage and proper pursuit angles.”

Moorpark players also study films of opponents for four to five hours the week before a game.

“When we go over films, coach points out things we can pick up on,” Thomas said. In studying Pierce film, for example, the Moorpark defense realized that the Pierce running backs were tipping off a quick pass when they lined up closer to the line and farther apart than usual.

Reading keys, though, is not a fail-safe system.

“Probably the biggest weakness to our defense is people that false-key us,” Bittner said. “When that happens, we go to pressure defense quickly.”

Whichever defense Moorpark is playing, it does so quickly. Bittner said that his defensive linemen run the 40-yard dash in 5.1 seconds or better; the linebackers can do 4.8 or faster; the defensive backs, 4.6 or lower.

“We sacrifice a bit. I’d like to have some of those guys on offense,” said Bittner, who moved Tony Kerr, a second-team All-WSC Conference running back, to the secondary this season in his quest for defensive athleticism. “All of those guys have to be able to run. Speed I think is overrated, but quickness is crucial.”

Bittner makes sure that Moorpark always has fresh legs in the game. Five defensive backs, four inside linebackers, four outside linebackers and four defensive linemen rotate in and out of the lineup.

The rotation makes tackling statistics less meaningful, but spreading the playing time allows everyone to feel like a part of the team. Moorpark intentionally limits its roster to 60 to 65 players in order to build a sense of family.

Bittner and his assistants further encourage team unity by rewarding the squad with a steak dinner cooked by the coaches every time the defense records a shutout.

Togetherness wears a little thin, though, for opponents’ ballcarriers, who sometimes feel as if Moorpark is holding a team meeting on their backs.

“You need the type of people on defense who are not happy unless they get to the ballcarrier. We really want people going to the football,” said Bittner, who believes that he has several Division I prospects on his defense.

For products of the Moorpark program, moving on to a university-style reading defense is, well, academic. “By the time our kids are sophomores and are ready to leave, we really feel they can read pretty decently,” said Mendoza, who calls the defensive signals.

In two years, Bittner, Mendoza and company transform remedial readers into one of the brightest reading circles since the heyday of the Bloomsbury Group.

Now, even Spot can’t run on this defense.