According to new Auburn defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, the defense isn’t in terrible condition.

“We’ve got good enough talent for us to be fine,” Muschamp said in an interview on Auburn’s official website last week.

He may be right.

The Tigers could return as many as eight starters next season to a defense that ranks 59th nationally in total defense, allowing 338.7 yards per game. Auburn hasn’t finished a season better than 60th nationally in total defense since the last time Muschamp roamed the sidelines inside Jordan-Hare Stadium.

As he begins to map out how best to construct his defense around the personnel he’s inheriting, Muschamp has spent the past week of bowl practices evaluating. He has to know what kind of players he has so he knows what kind of expectations to set. In 10 of his 12 seasons as a coach at LSU, Auburn, Texas and Florida, Muschamp’s defenses have ranked in the top-10.

Muschamp said in his introductory news conference that “it comes down to players,” and as mediocre as Auburn’s defense has been since he left the first time, fans have wondered just how well the Tigers are recruiting that side of the football.

However, AL.com’s Joel A. Erickson evaluated Auburn’s previous four recruiting classes and found the Tigers’ woes may be attributed more to a lack of development of talent rather than just a lack of talent.

Auburn’s last four recruiting classes have averaged a ranking of 8.75 nationally and fifth in the SEC. The four teams ahead of the Tigers — Alabama, Florida, LSU and Georgia — all finished in the top-five in the SEC in total defense this season.

“I know one thing,” Muschamp said, “they’ve recruited a bunch of good players here. There’s a bunch of guys that [Florida] was recruiting.”

Erickson reports that of Auburn’s 42 defensive players on scholarship in 2014, the Tigers boast three five-stars, 19 four-stars and 20 three-star recruits.

Thus, the analytics say the cupboard is not bare for Muschamp.

Not only has the respected defensive coach built his reputation upon the X’s and O’s, but also on a passion for recruiting and ability to develop talent. A run of successive top-1o defenses at four different schools isn’t possible unless you’re good. And Muschamp is that good.

And it’s that level of good Auburn desperately needs. The team that resides on the opposite side of the state is busy hauling in the best recruits, winning SEC titles and competing for more national championships. That thought doesn’t sit well with Auburn fans, and as good as head coach Gus Malzahn’s offense is, any semblance of a good defense would legitimize the Tigers again as a contender in the SEC West.

Muschamp’s assessment of the talent with which he’s been entrusted may not be as crazy as you think.

The numbers say that, but so does Muschamp.

And he knows his defense.