Saban has been using the 4-2-5 as a base for years under Saban, he’s one of the pioneers of some of the most advanced ways to utilize it
You mean a base nickel defense? This may be news but nickel defenses have been around forever. The only thing that is new about it is what it is called.
Agreed. But what Saban uses as a base isn’t a base nickel. Just as the game has become more spread the different versions of 5 DB defenses and ensuing terminology has also evolved greatly. Some of the most popular trends in this particular defense are Saban-led. The post I responded to implied Bama had suddenly adopted this philosophy following Saban when his Cover 7/matchup/4-2-5 Star stuff has been around for quite awhile and has been a big part of Bama’s success for years.
It may have been only the one play I remember right now, but on a third down passing play, NU had Soares lined up as a rushing end (i.e., part of the "4" in the 4-2-5). He was in on the sack on that play.
Makes sense given he is sort of a hybrid backer/end. At some point whether you call that formation a 4-2-5 with a light rush end or a 3-3-5 comes down to terminology, and maybe line technique.
All I know is that the people watching Alabama say it's a shift. https://www.rollbamaroll.com/2024/2...the-swarm-defense-how-will-it-look-at-alabama
But I'm guessing most of these systems are similar, because they're all seeking to solve the same issues of spread offenses and more WRs on the field: https://bamahammer.com/posts/how-mu...d-swarm-defense-alabama-football-01hv7pwtenz7
As the article cites, the 4-2-5 isn't the new bit, what's different about it is the "swarm" style, which apparently mostly boils down to almost universal use of drop zone style coverages with a particular set of rules and styles. This is, of course, different from Saban's patented zone-match coverage scheme that is truly his own. So very similar base personnel structure, very different scheme tendancies.
If I remember correctly, that transpired over the season and we started playing better.
