Language of The Defense

Question
This year I'd like to play defensive end. Last year I played at offensive guard and I did enjoy it, but I really want to hit people haha. I've already been working out a lot and I have until August to get ready and I feel that I have the physical part down, but I need a little more of the mental. I don't really know any of the defensive terms. I remember last year the coach would say a rush to the strong side of the o-line is called something or another. That's the kind of stuff I want to know. I want to know how the d-line, linebackers, and DBs communicate with each other. Terms would be helpful as well.

Answer
Hello,

This would be tough for me to explain. Simply because each coach has a different name for what he does on defense. Like in a 4-3 defense, we call the three linebackers, Sam, Mike and Willie.
Sam, the "s" is for strongside linebacker, Mike, the "m" is for middle linebacker, Willie, the "w" is for weakside linebacker. The strong side is normally dictated by what side the tightend lines up on. But in some defenses, it changes if there is a slot on the opposite side of the tightend. So, as you can see, there is a lot to learn about defenses and it really just depends on the coaches.