I you are in a "no cover" league for the center meaning no once can line up over the center, and you STILL want to use the 5-3 (which we do), I suggest that you slide the DL one slot toward the strong side of the offensive formation, so that your nose guard is over the guard, not the center. If you are in a younger age league 2-3-4th grades, rarely do you need 3 DB's typical of the 53 defense... why not consider the 6-2 spread where there is no noseguard, or perhaps the 4-4 in case you have fewer big DL's to start with?

It depends on the kids you have. You should always play to your strengths. If you feel like you have a big group of kids, or a strong group, the stick with the 5-3, or as Mr. Magee stated, the 6-2. I have always been a fan of 4-4 personally in leagues where the center must be uncovered. In a 6-2, you are depending a lot on your LBs to read and react properly, so if you go that way make sure you are confident in your LB's. I do like the idea of a gap shift to the strong side, but your kids would have to know how to determine the strong side (it is not always as straight forward as it seems, and sometimes team run a balanced T formation).

Go with 3-5 that always worksout that way your middle line backer becomes your nose guard without him being on the line its almost like he blitzing everyplay plus tha will open your defense up to control both the run and the pass try it you might like it I have used this D the last 3 years and only lost one game not too bad give it a try good luck !!!

4-3 with a blitz on the loaded side works good with younger age's the spare defender key's on qb reads eye's in pass situations and missles in run.

I would slide the NG to the strong side of the Offevsive formation and line up over the guard. If the offense is even strength, Slide the NG to the guard on the wide side of the field. If all else fails, slide your NG to one guard, bring your MBL up to line up on the other guard and run a 6-2.

You might want to look at the rules, in our lower age leagues we have the no cover of center but you also can only have 4 down lineman and your LB's must be 3 yards deep prior to the snap. If those are not your rules I found that in younger ages the Diamond 7 and Titan work best. You would have to modify it slightly but they both shut down the run game if you have smart DE's.

No Go with a 4-3 you can always have a LB Fire (blizt) left or right in this they wouldnt actually blitz but they would line up off the d end this works great our team has gone 4-0 we have one game today and we will forsure win and this is our last game