Defending Empty Sets
by Eric Kasperowicz
Description
As the spread offense has become more popular, we are starting to see more teams utilize empty backfield sets. What has been the most difficult for our defense has been an offense that will stay in a traditional personnel grouping and then align in an empty set. We are a pressure defense at Mars HS (PA) that has to react to this type of formation through checks in our defense. Only one mistake can lead to a score or big play that could make the difference in a game. For this reason, we want to ensure that our defense is well-prepared for this set. The steps that we follow make sure that we are prepared to adjust and still have the opportunity to be aggressive on defense rather than reactive to the offense.
The first steps in preparation are to identify the type of empty set our opponent will utilize and evaluate the quarterback operating this offense. We do this by identifying the skills their quarterback may possess and what weaknesses we can take advantage of during the game. The following are three categories we use to determine the skills of our opponents’ quarterback.
- Is he an athletic quarterback with the ability to run the football?
- Is he an experienced drop-back passer that has the ability to read a defensive coverage and throw downfield as well as make good decisions under pressure?
- Is he a poor decision maker that tries to force the football?
Once we know what we have to defend, we will try to keep our checks simple. They fall into one of the following three defensive adjustments. Our ultimate goal is to get them out of the empty backfield set and back into their offense.
Lessons
The Coach
Coach Eric Kasperowicz is the Head Football coach at Mars HS (Pgh, PA) since 2022 and has a 2 year record of 16-8. This past season, the Planets finished 10-3 and lost in the PA State Quarterfinals to eventual state champion Aliquippa HS.
Coach Eric Kasperowicz spent the 2021 season as an offensive analyst with the ACC Champion Pittsburgh Panthers.
Former Head Coach of the Pine-Richland Rams, Coach Kasperowicz was the Head Coach there for 8 years and has a career record of 85-18 (.825).
Eric Kasperowicz led the 2020 Pine-Richland Rams to their second Pennsylvania State Championship in the past four years an undefeated 11-0 record. The Rams finished as high as #14 in the USA according to Max Preps and #24 according to USA Today. In 2017, the Pine-Richland football also finished as State Champions and a 16-0 record. They finished as the #1 in Pennsylvnia and #10 in the USA according to MaxPreps Xcellent 25 football rankings. Kasperowicz has been the Rams' head coach for 8 years.
In 2017 Coach Kasperowicz was named a finalist for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl Coach of the Year honor. Coach Kasperowicz was the National Federation of High School (NFHS) Coach of the Year this past season (2018). He was the PA State Coach of the Year, the Post-Gazette AAAA Coach of the Year, and the PA Football News AAAA and PA Football writers AAAA Coach of the Year in 2017 & 2014.
Playing Career
Coach graduated from North Hills High School in 1994 where he was a 4-year starter at Quarterback and Safety. He led the Indians to a WPIAL AAAA Championship and the school’s first & only PA State Championship.
Considered as the best all-around player in WPIAL history, Eric had 6,869 career yards and 20 career interceptions as a defensive back. In 1994, along with Peyton Manning, Eric was selected as a Parade All-American. Eric was also selected as the USA Today and Associated Press Pennsylvania Player of the year and was the starting Quarterback in the prestigious Big 33 Game (PA vs. OH), was later voted as the All Time Greatest Player in Western PA (WPIAL) beating out just great sports luminaries such as Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino and Lavar Arrington. All of these awards culminated with Eric’s 2014 induction into the WPIAL Hall of Fame.
Upon his graduation from high school, he attended the University of Pittsburgh on a football scholarship lettering all 4 years and was the team’s starting outside linebacker his last two years. After an injury-plagued career and a few NFL tryouts later, Eric was able to return to his high school alma mater to begin his coaching career. Coach Kasperowicz spent 11 years as an assistant coach and offensive coordinator under the legendary Jack McCurry, with each year getting the team to the 9 win mark.
Coach Kasperowicz lives in Pittsburgh with his lovely wife Jennifer, and his three children, Ella, Eric and Emlyn.
