The Defensive Evolution of Dave Doeren

Dave Doeren has been at NC State for 14 years, which makes me feel so old. So much has changed over that decade and a half. When Doeren started, directly paying a player was the ultimate NCAA violation and only two teams played for a championship each year. Now, teams have 20+ million dollar budgets specifically for paying players, 24 teams will soon play for a championship, and apparently gambling on games is fine now.

Change is a constant in this sport, and it goes way beyond the obvious examples described above. Whether you’re talking about adjusting to the portal and NIL or staying ahead of the curve as the sport cycles through various trends, you simply don’t last as a major college football coach if you’re unwilling to evolve.

As we enter the second year of the DJ Eliot tenure, the defensive evolution in Raleigh is an interesting study, particularly with Doeren’s history as a defensive guy. Contrary to a lot of popular narratives, Dave is very willing to change. The thing about changing is that it doesn’t always work, but it shouldn’t be written off as a lack of an attempt if it goes that route. Dave has changed for the better more than he’s changed for the worse, but certainly the coin lands on both sides. Failure and success should always be correctly diagnosed, and while the verdict on the Eliot tenure is not in yet, the move itself was another attempt to meet the sport where it is. Let's jump back to the beginning and see how much things have changed.

Important terms for this article

B Gap: The gap between the offensive tackle and the offensive guard

Even Spacing: A defensive front alignment that allows for an open B gap on one side

Odd Spacing: A defensive front alignment that puts a defensive lineman in both B gaps

Switching to Nickel Base

State was truly a base 4-3 defense in Doeren’s inaugural year. This alignment is what most people think of when they think about defensive fronts. State played two ends, two tackles, a mike, will, and sam backer.

It was also mostly an even spacing defense. “Even spacing” is a keyword for the rest of this article. The simplest definition is a defensive front that features an open B gap, and that element has played a big role in the evolution of football. There will be a lot more to come on this. See below for a base defensive alignment in the early years of Doeren. 

State is in an over front here, which is even spacing. It has three linebackers in the box area and is showing quarters coverage on the back end.

It didn’t take long for the former defensive coordinator to switch to a nickel base, subbing out one of the linebackers for the extra DB. The nickel package (5 defensive backs) has existed forever. Adding the fifth defensive back eschews size in the box for space coverage, and similar to dime (6 DBs), it was very much a situational sub-package that existed for passing downs. 

Basing out of nickel means a lot more than just putting the extra DB out there. Because it’s no longer a sub-package, it has to be applied to every down and distance, which means adding a DB who is more specialized to the position and can be more useful against the run. NC State’s first nickel was Dravious Wright, who was plenty willing to be physical. You could argue it took a while for State to really find a difference maker at nickel, probably all the way until Tyler Baker-Williams. Shawn Boone was decent in the early years.

Odd Spacing and The 3-3-5

After the 2018 season, State went through its second sea change when it added Tony Gibson as a co-defensive coordinator. The Wolfpack had some great defensive parts the prior years, including a defensive front that had four draft picks, but it never had a great overall unit until the switch to the Tony Gibson system. 

The Gibson system was based around the tite front, an odd spacing front that became known as the spread killer. Odd spacing defenses, like nickel packages, have existed forever, but it was increasingly popular as an antidote to offenses that wanted to spread you out. This was a wholesale shift in philosophy for NC State. 

Old school even fronts were looking to set hard edges and box the ball in. They played with two 5-tech defensive ends. Players like Kentavius street were powerful edge-setting 5-techs that could build a wall and contain the ball on perimeter runs. Odd spacing generally seeks to do the opposite, squeezing the middle and punching the ball to the edges. This is why Tony Gibson wanted three immovable forces on the defensive line and speed everywhere else. He wanted small linebackers who could cover ground and chase down the ball. 

This front forced and held double teams from the offensive line in the run game, which doesn't sound like a good thing at first. Double teams are what you generally want on a run play, but you want those double teams to break and reach the linebackers. The tite front challenged the line's ability to pass off blocks with its spacing and post-snap technique. This was part of the function of jamming up the middle and letting the second level chase the ball down. A critical component of that was keeping the offensive line from reaching the second level. I won't go into the mechanics of how this worked exactly, because that's a long discussion, but join the Trinity Road Times Member Chat if you're interested in such a thing.

The tite front also kept outside linebackers out of conflict. Spread offenses wanted to space you out and attack where you presented weakness. Outside linebackers were stressed heavily by these types of offenses. Look at how an old NC State team aligned to a spread look back in 2013.

Clemson is in an unbalanced 3x1 here (technically a 4 strong). The linebacker just outside of the box is a conflicted player for State. He may need to fold back into the box here on a run, and he carries some coverage responsibility as well. That leaves a lot of ground for him to cover. If he crashes the B gap, a simple glance route from 24 on an RPO could be wide open. If he reacts slowly and plays from depth, a run to that side has a chance of hitting the B gap with a climbing guard in front. This is why the B gap became so important as the game started to favor spacing and speed.

By getting faster on the back end and adopting more of a spill-and-kill philosophy, State allowed its second level players to stay on the outside more. Their speed would be more of an asset and they would face less conflict because they no longer need to fold back into the box to fit the run.

This is the tite front. Two defensive ends aligned on the inside shoulder of the tackles and a nose tackle aligned to the center's face. These three linemen and the mike backer will be responsible for the four interior gaps (As and Bs).

Gibson eliminated that B gap conflict with this front structure. The defensive line is now canceling three interior gaps instead of just two, leaving only the mike linebacker to fit an interior run lane (in 10 personnel). The outside linebackers now face less conflict and can play on the edge and chase down the ball without having to plug a B gap. Spread offenses have a harder time stressing them horizontally. That was the philosophy. Jam the middle, keep speed on the edge and out of conflict, and let them run it down.

Note the outside linebackers (Payton Wilson and Jaylon Scott). Just like Clemson above, Louisville is aligned in a 4 strong formation. Both linebackers are aligned outside the box, but neither will need to fold back into the box, as their run responsibility is the edge.

Gibson’s defense also played a ton of man coverage and would frequently play cover 3 featuring both safeties and the nickel dropping from the slot areas. Man coverage negates the RPO, and the corners rarely bailing to the deep thirds also minimized the free access throws for the offense. This defense put a clamp on a lot of the simple plays that offenses leaned on to grab easy yards.

It was high-risk, high-reward, and it really worked when State had elite personnel, and it had some players for a minute there. The downfall of this scheme is heavier personnel, which obviously makes sense as it’s built to stop light personnel. Gap runs like counter and buck sweep are killers of this front, particularly when run with added tight ends. Football as a whole has seen a transition back to more tight end usage, largely because of defenses like this.

The Tennessee loss in 2024 was the canary in the coal mine that the personnel wasn’t up to the task anymore. The Gibson defense was predictable up front. It could do some fun things with its coverages, but the sharp distinction in body type between the defensive line and linebackers made it harder to flex between even and odd spacing. Offenses knew what they were getting and how to attack it. The Volunteers lined up with two tight ends and grinded NC State to dust. State did not create enough havoc to mitigate the structural weakness, and for that and other reasons, it went on to allow five yards per carry that season.

There are two things I believe about Gibson’s time in Raleigh. The first is that State would have loved to have him back if he didn’t take the Marshall job. He is a very good coach. The second is that, had Gibson come back, the defense still would have seen change. 

DJ Eliot and Multiplicity

Instead, State hired DJ Eliot and altered its core philosophy once again. The name of the game with DJ Eliot is hybridization, and his system descends from the mind of Dave Aranda. It’s a vastly more complex system than the Gibson years, with the end goal of keeping the picture as muddy as possible for the offense. A static defensive picture is a great way to lose, and Doeren was looking for multiplicity. 

It’s not an even spacing or odd spacing defense, but rather one designed to play from both. You’ll often see this type of defense shift between fronts during and sometimes even after the snap. This is a gross oversimplification, but think about this this way. If teams are comfortable running counter at you when you’re in odd spacing, and they’re comfortable running zone at you when you’re in even spacing, and they’re comfortable getting into both of those from the same personnel grouping because of a really good tight end, it would behoove you to make it harder for them to know how your front will align. 

Here, State is aligned in odd spacing. Note the occupied B gaps. It technically has four players on the line, but structurally, this is more like the Tony Gibson front. Tra Thomas on the left is the jack, and he can easily drop into coverage, become an edge setter if the other three linemen stem into even spacing, etc.

Here, State is in even spacing. Note the open B gap on the right side. This is the same personnel grouping as the above photo: 2 defensive ends, a nose tackle, and a jack backer. Note that Sabastian Harsh is on the edge here on the left side, but is aligned inside of the tackle in the previous example. That positional versatility is what enables the multiple looks.

Doing this demands hybrid roles. State needs a defensive end who can play on the edge and on the inside shoulder. This is the role Sabastian Harsh filled, and State is hoping Chase Bond and Joseph Adedire can fill this year. It also employs the jack linebacker, who I’ve always assumed got his name from the saying “jack of all trades.” This guy, in theory, can align as a defensive end or align off the ball, and he’ll often be dropping into coverage when State runs “creepers,” which is another core tenet of this defense’s interest in disguising intentions (video below). Cian Slone and Tra Thomas filled this role last year, and Harvey Dyson will fill it this year. 

The creeper is designed to create passive pressure. State is trying to generate pressure on the quarterback and confusion in the reads without having to change the number of rushers or the coverage integrity. In a zone coverage, the quarterback knows he will get a hook defender, but he doesn’t necessarily know where it will come from, and the same is true for a fourth rusher. Eliot calls this “creating ghosts” 

Watch the defensive end at the bottom drop into coverage and the linebacker at the top of the screen blitz. The rest of the defensive line the crosses face and the rush maintains its base structure while changing where the players are coming from. The quarterback does a good job IDing this, but this is a pick if he doesn't and tries to throw the first progression, which is the inside slant.

There is so much more we can talk about with these schemes. I tried to keep this higher level so it didn’t become 80 billion words. Doeren’s story as a defensive coach is interesting to follow because it runs through a lot of the major changes the 20th century has introduced to the game of football. State’s responses to these changes aren’t new ideas or NC State inventions. The 3-3-5 defense has been around forever, and Dave Aranda’s impact certainly predates 2025. Very few things are actually ever new in football. But each inflection point does represent a large-scale shift in how Dave Doeren, who has been coaching defense since 1994, wants to approach that side of the ball, and each is a part of the reason Dave has the longevity that he does.