With newly minted head coach Lovie Smith at the helm, one of the biggest downsides to the upcoming football season is the uncertainty of a brand-new defensive scheme. The Illinois Fighting Illini will install a variation of Smith’s ‘Tampa 2’ defense, which is something he’s been known for running since he was with the Buccaneers in the late ‘90s.
The Tampa 2 is a slight mutation of the traditional Cover 2 scheme. The difference in the former, however, is that a middle linebacker is deployed into deeper coverage, creating something more akin to a Cover 3 on the fly.