For interior defensive linemen, statistics don't tell the story. Not even half of it. Production and impact is not fully measured in a box score but hopefully this article can help shed some light on the ways defensive tackles influence every play of every game.

To demonstrate, I'll share two quick anecdotes.

The first comes from my time working in the Arena Football League. We had a nose tackle named James Baron who was at the tail end of a distinguished career. Before the very first defensive snap of the ball, nearly every game, James would purposely jump offside and just blow up the opposing center. As you'd expect, once the center picked himself up off the ground there'd be a storm of words and machismo. It was an unorthodox approach, but what he was doing was setting the tone. From the very first snap of the ball he had the center playing on tilt: angry and preoccupied is a bad way to play. There's no telling how many fumbled snaps, over-stepped blocks, or false start penalties resulted from this little stunt. I would say he at least made up for the five-yard incursion we took every game. I believe this illustrates point No. 1: a fearsome DT can set the tone for how an offense operates.

In the second story, picture someone that looks like the combination of Orlando Pace and Ironman, with glorious flowing hair. Now put that visage into a football game in central Iowa, make him a little shorter but no less debonair, and you'll have something close to me as a senior in college. So there we were, playing a conference opponent who had an All-American 3-technique ( defensive line alignments explained here ). Through the game, the left guard and I became hyper-aware of this DT's whereabouts, and between us we really made it a personal project to 'minimize' him. We doubled him up longer than normal on runs, gave him a few extra chips on pass plays, sat on him a little longer in piles…the usual fat kid stuff. We were extraordinarily satisfied with our results and made sure to tell our coaches when we'd come off the field after each series. The game was a loss but we felt like we'd had the better of him. As if to corroborate thi,s the box score credited him with only one tackle. So we strolled into our film session on Sunday with that feather in our caps, ready to receive the laurels of praise laid at our feet. Instead, what we got was absolutely lit up by our coaches. Their DT hadn't made but the one tackle, but what he had done was penetrate and divert every run, keep his linebackers running free, and collapse the pocket and occupy two blockers on almost every play. He had fouled up our run designs and stressed our pass protections on every series. He had one tackle, but he made almost every play. This is point No. 2: a good DT sets the table for his teammates' success.

As recruits, defensive tackles are a coveted commodity. Prime candidates are identified and scooped up as early as the top quarterbacks. In my experience, this position may have the biggest drop-off in talent between the first and second tiers of players. Another unique part about recruiting DTs is that so many of them were DEs in high school. This goes back again to the common practice of recruiting players for their move skills and frames and moving them one position closer to the ball (e.g., tight ends becoming offensive tackles, linebackers becoming ends, etc.)

Unlike his edge brethren, interior defensive linemen don't have the same exacting height requirements. Again, of course the more height and reach the better, until you get to about 6-foot-7, then you worry about leverage. But the 72- and 73-inchers aren't as discriminated against. On the flip side, just like an edge rusher, the all important 'get off' is measured by the 10-yard spli:, 1.8-1.9 is a standard range. This is also one of the few positions where I would take note of any kind of bench-press statistics.

For weight, guys may come in as ready-built 300-pounders, but it's probably the wrong kind of 300 pounds. I've also seen players come in at 240 pounds and emerge as 280-pound freaks after a redshirt year. Certainly, it also matters where the player fits into your scheme, whether it is an up-the-field 3-technique or a 'two-gapper'. So there is, pardon the pun, some cushion to the question of appropriate weight.

You're going to get most of your pass rush production out of your 3-techniques. There are a few reasons for this. First, schematically, a nose or "shade" technique will be double-teamed by the offense on virtually every play, whereas a 3-tech gets more one-on-one matchups. Secondly, because they don't need to handle a double team every play, a 3-tech is a different kind of athlete: a little lighter and fleeter of foot.

On film, you really want to find a potential nose tackle with an aptitude for collapsing the pocket at least some of the time in passing situations. This can be done by either driving his double team back, or by splitting them. Your best bet for splitting a double team is to get a great, low jump off the snap, swat away the OLs hands and get into their body, where they have no leverage. A 3-tech should be able to also play with leverage and bull-rush through the opposition, or execute a half-man technique. One of the staple moves of a good interior rusher is the "club-rip" where, for instance, the pass rusher swats away the offensive lineman's hands with his right arm and then rips and chases his left arm through. That said, the moves and techniques can be coached, and many interior prospects are playing elsewhere in high school, so you're first looking for an athlete. Refinement comes once you're in the program.

I'm going to repeat a little bit from last week, but stay with me. Run defense is first about your assignment. Every player on defense has an "in the event of a run" gap assignment. A gap, as you'll have seen in the link above, is simply the natural spacing in an offensive formation; for instance, the space between a guard and a center is the 'A' gap.

In a 3-4 defense, the nose guard will often have a 'two-gap' assignment with both 'A' gaps under his domain. This is why 3-4 noses' are humanoids the size of a vending machine: they must be strong enough to hold the point of attack at the line of scrimmage, lock out, and make a play on either side of the center.

A 4-3 defense is much more traditionally a one-gap assignment defense. When players have a one-gap responsibility they have more freedom to penetrate that gap and get into the backfield. The 'Tampa 2' defense that the Bears ran under Lovie Smith was, in fact, predicated on this action. It's no surprise that the team was at its best when Tommie Harris was one of the best in the league at getting into the backfield from his 3-technique position.

I say all this to again underscore the importance that what you see in a recruit must entirely be in context with where his skill sets and body type fit into your scheme.

As far as physical skills and techniques to be displayed, there are a few essentials. First and foremost, you want to see the defender play low with his hips and shoulders nearly aligned. Second, an effective run defender must be able to extend and lock out his arms against a block. This eliminates the leverage an offensive lineman may have and gives the defender control of the struggle. He is also then at an advantage to disengage and make a play. Finally, in order to make a play, the defender needs to be able to locate the ball. It sounds silly, but even at the NFL level players time and again get so myopic when it comes to defeating their block or executing their technique that they don't get their eyes into the backfield to locate the ball carrier. I've seen many an interior defender execute the first two steps listed above but let the rock-toting running back fly right by him.

That's the beauty and irony of football for you: the little things are still important, no matter how big you are.

Previous installments in the Scout's Eye View series: