Use This SECRET Defensive Setup To Get 10X More Sacks & INTS!

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]The nickel 3-3 cub is the best defense in college football 26 because it easily allows you to stop the run, stop the pass, and bring pressure all with extremely easy setups. And in today's video, I'm going to teach you how to run it like a pro. Now, I like to run this nickel 3-3 cub from the 4-3 multiple defensive playbook because you get access to a lot of great formations like 4-3 even, the nickel mugs, along with dime, and then finally the 3-3 cub. Now, when running this 3-3 cub, you do need to make some adjustments at the play call screen with your packages, subs, etc. to get the most out of this defense. So, I like to use the outside linebacker flip package. The reason why I do this is the edge guys are now going to be considered outside linebackers, which is very beneficial to us. But, if you just activate this package right off the bat as I do here, you see some of your players get taken out of the game.

[00:00:54]So, what you want to do is before you activate it, sub in the guys you want in the front seven. And that's basically going to be the three linebackers, the nickel corner, and the three D-linemen.

[00:01:04]Now, even if you have already the starters in the game you want, literally just take them out and then put them right back in like you see I did there with Perkins. I literally just took him out and put him right back in the game.

[00:01:16]This is just going to ensure that when you actually activate this package, the right guys are in the game. So, now you guys can see when I activate the package, I still have the same people in the game. Now, because this is a nickel formation on defense, make sure you have auto flip on so the nickel corner will be on the strong side of the offensive formation. You want your safety depth and width on close and pinch. The final thing we're going to do here is we're going to set our shell to cover two.

[00:01:42]This is done under the three play call screen. Right here, you see shell set to cover two. And what this does is it essentially allows you to disguise all sorts of different defenses. Like here, I'm in a man blitz, but to to naked eye, you might think this was covered too.

[00:01:57]Whereas, if I just came directly out in it, it definitely would have some tells.

[00:02:02]Like, you guys can see here, if I come out in the Tampa 2, it looks the same way as the previous defense did. So, there are no tells to the offense. Now, the main play I'm going to take a look at this video that allows you to do a great job against the run and the pass is the nickel 3-3 cop cover 4 show 2.

[00:02:20]This is considered to be a match coverage. Now, let me first show you guys how to stop the run, and it is extremely easy. Basically, you're going to spread out your defensive line, which we always do from this defense, and take your user and stand over this D tackle.

[00:02:35]If they try to run the ball, when the ball snaps, you're going to shoot in.

[00:02:39]Easy tackle for loss. Now, at the same time, there's some adjustments we can make to make this defense very, very good against the pass. And if you're enjoying this video and want more content like it, make sure you drop me a like on this video and subscribe to the channel so you never miss out on my content. Now, a lot of people that play this game run compressed formations, and honestly, a bunch offense is extremely common. Now, when running match, like this is a cover 4 match, you need to understand the rules.

[00:03:10]So, you guys got to understand that when you user the three wreck hook zone in this defense, you're responsible for who's considered to be the number three receiver. Now, this can be different depending upon offensive formation, but here, because they are in a bunch formation with the bunch to the right, three receivers to the right. The tight end is considered the number three receiver, so keep that in mind. Now, if I was to just run this play stock or this coverage stock, there are some weaknesses to it um that you you'll see.

[00:03:39]So, the first weakness is that there's match bombs. Match bombs can definitely take advantage of a coverage like this. This is a pretty common one right here. And oftentimes, what will happen is is you'll see that basically, the coverage will let that streak run right down the middle of the field. The other thing that I don't necessarily like is sometimes, you know, you know, stem down corners can get open against a cover four match.

[00:04:05]Um, you know, if they know how to pass lead it correctly, let's count let's just like right there. And you see that I didn't get the best throw in the world, but that definitely was open. So, we want to keep the match, but we just want to make a few adjustments to make the match a bit better. So, what I tend to do is put the safety on the bunch side into deep half. And to do that, you just use your coverage adjustments. And a deep half on the safety, you'll see is up on the left stick. Now, you can either do quick adjustments, or you can click onto your defenders individually to put them in assignments. YOU WANT TO USE QUICK ADJUSTMENTS, how you do that is you hit triangle triangle or Y Y, and then the icon of the defensive player you want to adjust, and then like I said, for a deep half, that is up on the left stick. The next thing you're going to want to do is put that uh slot corner in a vertical hook. And a vertical hook is down on the left stick. Now, if you're just going to individually click through your defenders, you do have to scroll through them, but once you're on the guy you need to adjust, just hit the uh button to change their assignments. For me, that's X, and then it'll bring up the same menu where a vertical hook is down on the left stick.

[00:05:10]Now, the final thing you're going to want to do is put that outside corner on the bunch side in a soft squat. The reason why we use soft squat is a soft squat is considered to be a matching flat zone.

[00:05:20]Uh so, we're going to keep our match principles, but this is just a lot better to deal with A bombs because we have a safety over the top that's not, you know, matching in the deep half, and then corner outs cuz the soft squat will latch onto the corner outs much better.

[00:05:35]So, first of all, you'll see that if they try to do a bomb set up, you're going to notice that that deep half over the top will help prevent anything getting open, obviously, for a bomb, and then And see that the safety on the back side, he can get involved as well. Just like this, you'll see I mean there there's just nothing open there. That does an absolutely amazing job of stopping over the top match bombs in that situation. The other thing about this is if they go back to the send out corners, you'll see that the soft squat does a really really good job of defending the send out corners. If you struggle against send out corners, I highly recommend this coverage. The soft squat out of match is literally the best thing you can do. So once again, we deep half the safety on the bunch side. We put that slot corner in a vertical hook.

[00:06:21]We put the outside corner on that side into the soft squat. Now, this like I said, will do an absolutely amazing job. You see how that soft squat latches onto the corner out? That is not open at all. Now, the best part about this defense is it's really good against lots of offensive formations. It's not just for bunch. Really, I like this against anything that has three receivers on one side of the field just as we do here. So you're going to see here this is another formation with three receivers on ONE SIDE. IT'S NOT BUNCH, but we got the tight end and two receivers. So once again, we're going with our setup where we spread the D-line out. We stand over the center which is to help with the run game, but also it does allow you to mix in other coverages and blitzes. And if you guys would like to learn more about different setups, different coverages, different blitzes you can run out of this defense, be sure to check out my VIP membership on sportsgamers.com.

[00:07:17]I just dropped a full nickel 3-3 club defensive scheme in my 4-3 multiple defensive guide yesterday, I believe, which will help you guys out a lot. Link is in the comments and the description if you're interested in that. BUT WE'RE STILL GOING TO GO ahead and make these same coverage adjustments where we put the safety in a deep half um on the the three receiver side. We then put the uh slot corner in a vertical hook. And then we put this outside corner on squat. So, this is how it's going to look. We're going to look how this works against four verticals and some other concepts you're going to see online.

[00:07:54]Now, as you guys can see here, there is nothing open. Let me explain how this works. So, in this situation, what you're first going to notice is that the vertical hook will latch on to the tight end.

[00:08:07]Now, you might think that this leaves an opening here for this receiver, but really the slot receiver is not going to be open as you guys can see here, the safety matches him. Now, over here we have the soft spot matching this outside receiver, then we have the safety over the top. So, really I'm honestly freeing this defense to help out wherever is necessary. I can hit uh the running back out of the backfield if I see him breaking open. If I see any routes honestly getting any any separation, I'm free to help just as I do here.

[00:08:40]Now, there's obviously many other route combos people are going to utilize that you have to be aware of. You know, a lot of people will try to do something like this where they have a corner route and something quick over from the middle of the field, maybe even the running back going out of the backfield. As I said before, this defense does a great job against all that. So, we're going to make the same exact adjustments. Please be aware that when running this defense, this is a four-man rush. So, if you have a good D-line, that's going to be very beneficial to you. Also, some of these passing a lot. Honestly, with this defense, I like to pass commit because when you stand over the center, it honestly allows you to shoot all the runs anyways. So, people aren't really going to run the ball and if they do, you can just shoot yourself. So, pass committing is really, really good out of this defense. So, here's this offensive play we're going to run. Let's take a look at how it works and you'll see here, again, nothing really is open. So, the great thing about a soft squat, as you guys are going to notice year, is how smart it is. So, yeah, if there's only vertical threats, the soft squat will match onto this receiver going down field. But, the thing is that the soft squat still does have a flat responsibility. So, if somebody is going to get into his his area in the flat, as it is here with the corner route, he's going to come off of the vertical route and guard that corner route. So, that is just so great because we still have the safety over the top to take away that actual streak, he can take the corner route. Now, if you look elsewhere, you'll notice that once again, this route over the middle of the field, it's getting matched by the vertical hook.

[00:10:16]So, the only thing I would do here is I would initially take away the tight end until he gets to the soft squat. Now, guys, keep in mind that this side of the field is more of a cover four match where you have the quarter flat. The quarter flat does take the first receiver into the flat, which in this case is the running back, does a really good job here. Obviously, we have the deep zone taking this guy deep, and then we have this guy rotating to the middle, which as you saw before, can be very beneficial to you.