Style question

[housejd]

"The Fighting Irish came out playing nickel with four down-linemen." Would it be down linemen or down-linemen?

[Chi City 81]

I would say no hyphen. But why not simplify things and say four defensive linemen or a four-man front?

[housejd]

Gotcha. Thanks for the quick reply.

[0-fer]

I'd avoid it, too. But I also believe the hyphen is within proper usage in adjective-noun compound modifiers such as "left-handed."