Back around 1995-96 a Colorado coach contacted me after I was the only coach to correctly defend an  offense by Annapolis (Navy) postedon Toby’s Message Board (Then a HS and college coaching forum).  He asked if I could also stop Tom Osborn’s Nebraska option offense.  But he made the additional requirement that I use the “46” defense to do it.

I didn’t even know what a “46” was. But he told me how both Ryan’s and Fritz Shurmer’s (two NFL coaches) defenses worked.  For extra help, I contacted two high school coaches (One with a 58-0 record and the second coach with two consecutive state championships.).  They showed me how they had changed their 46’s.  So I now had four great sources and combined them all into one.  It took a year to do.  When I finished it would stop all 50 plays in Tom Osborn’s playbook without a single call.  Almost to the day I finished, Tom Osborn retired at Nebraska and the Colorado coach lost all interest in the defense.  I've never heard from him again.

But I didn’t lose interest in it.  I looked at what I’d made and it was so simple I said to myself, “You know -Little kids could run this…And I’m a little kids coach!”

So I ran it and worked.  Two European pro football teams even asked for it (Kind of an embarrassment to send them a playbook designed for 10’s) and a famous former NFL head coach ran it for his grandson’s team.  It’s been to Disney World twice and a ton of state championships.  The average coach currently running it gives up about 4 points per game and, at one time when only more experienced coaches ran it, just 2. 

Every year, I update the defense (usually to make it simpler).  My own contributions over time include the punt blocks, the extra point block, “tilt”, and the modified B&R technique which, for 17 years of additions, probably ain’t much.  I suppose my real contribution was just putting all those other geniuses of football’s ideas together.  The philosophy, defensive calls, and teaching techniques are all mine (patting myself on the back here for having done at least something).

Other DC-46 coaches have also improved it.  One is Mike Mahonz on this site who still runs it.  Others to run it with success here include JJ Lawson (under Darren Fish) who runs the "3-3 Stack" forum on this site and Jack Gregory who had me present it at the 2004 Double Wing Symposium.

Unfortunately, while my own “D” continued to work well for me and other youth coaches, by around 2000, high school 46 teams using Ryan’s book were starting to get hammered by opposing offenses.  When it reached the point where there were only about twelve good sized high schools running it left in the country, those high schools tried to organize a “46 Conference” in order to discuss their ailing defenses by sharing solutions.  They failed to hold the conference and that was the last I heard of any significant high school running it.  However, I got hold of the planned speaker list and they gave me their material.  They actually had some good solutions and I included these solutions into my next edition of the DC-46.  Technically, that gave me the most modern “46” in the country at the time as I was the only coach to receive this material.

Only I found it still needed to be even better (At one time I was on the wrong end of a 35-0 drubbing by a coach that, after 5 years of facing me, finally figured out I was running a "46" and got on the boards and asked how to beat me.).  I was fortunate that the famous Coach Homer Smith was a frequent source used by HS coaches for ways to beat the 46 and he put me in touch with those same high school coaches (about a dozen) that had regularly beat 46's and they gave me the plays they were using to do it.

They had great plays.  They really did.  These guys had reason to brag about how they could “beat a 46”.  These coaches would tell me they never lost to a 46 and I believe them and a "46" is a great defense.  Even the stuff I got from the “46 Conference” that was never held did not cover these guys.  But I got lucky again.  Although the “46” was now extinct, other coaches of other defenses still had to stop these same plays too.  One of these coaches, while not a “46” coach, came up with the solution to all of them.  I found I could adopt to the DC-46 – And I did.  The next year, I beat the coach that beat me 35-0 and he was never able to find a solution again for what I did to him.).

Thus, the DC-46 is able to stop 2nd and even 3rd generation anti-46 offenses while most other 46 defenses are still using 1st generation “Ryan” ideas.  What this means is that your opponent, if he even figured out you were running a “46” (I’ve disguised it well), and went to a high school message board and asked the finest high school coaches in the country how to beat you, the odds are the solution they’ll offer, no matter how tried, tested, and proven, WILL NOT WORK.  Last year DC46 coaches had their highest number of championship game wins ever.  This system has kept up with changing offenses.

The DC46 is so tough to beat that I would never let my own offense play against my own DC-46 defense.  I didn’t want to demoralize my offense.  You won’t let your own offense play against your own DC-46 either.  When you’re done reading the manual, you’ll know why.  Draw up your own offense against it and run every single play you have.  Not one will work.  What you’ve got is as “bulletproof” as defense gets.  This defense includes simple, yet really cool stuff that Ryan never thought of - like "auto blitz", "screen blitz", and "Mike Out".  Great care is included to make certain that there are no contradictory player instructions (A very common problem in other 46 defenses.).  A consistent, simple theory is applied, player by player, throughout the whole defense.  The player has an 8 word instruction (And all 11 players have the same 8 words) while each Assistant Coach has the same four letter acronym instruction. This allows you to come to every practice WITHOUT THE MANUAL.  It's designed to be LEFT AT HOME.  You'll know the answer to every question put to you by the players or your assistants even if you can't remember reading it in the manual.  There will never be any confusion.

Coaches who get this system not only get the manual but a short power point presentation to provide their assistants.  This presentation is deliberately timed to be able to view and understand in the time it takes to drink a can of beer (The attention span of most AC's).  This allows you to avoid the oft spoken words of "That's not how I was taught to do it, coach" or have an AC secretly change what he's teaching his kids.  They'll see why they're teaching what they're teaching and know not to change it.  And an AC can coach this and never have played a down of football himself.  The instruction is that simple.

In addition to the manual and the Assistant's power point you get access to the private DC46 forum on this site and there is a set of DC46 install DVD's for the visual learner.  Excluding the DVD's, the cost of this package is $ 50 via Paypal.  To insure you no opponent can order it to try and figure out how to beat you with it, the system is not sold between September 1 and November 1.  That pretty much keeps it out of your opponents hands.

What is a "46"?  It's not what the name implies (4-6).  The name "46" comes from the Chicago Bears defensive captain's jersey number back when they ran it.  It's actually a 5 man odd front in which the pass rush and the run rush are the same with the philosophy being to not let anyone out of the backfield with the ball and then squeezing the backfield down until the ball carrier was found (often the QB dropping back to throw). It uses Man Coverage (DC46 times up the man coverage to the pass rush such that the receivers are all covered long enough for the front five to sack the QB) which allows for a lot of blitzing (In theory, you can run 40 different defensive calls with DC46 and the kids can learn them all in one night.). 

DC46 will do some pretty amazing things.  You can watch the three interior linemen defend reverse with no DE's against a complete, starting offense of eleven players (In an actual game there are two more reverse defenders.).  You can watch it defend sweep with no linebackers and no safety and stop it for no gain.  If the QB snuck out of the backfield for a pass, he would be TRIPLE covered.

DC46  can also be run together with my Killer Bee defense to give you the ability to present any offense with two premier defenses.

The typical install time is three practices.  Talent required is average or better (It was, after all, an NFL defense.).  The defense can be purchased through Paypal using this account:    clarkwilkins@charter.net