The SEC should place a number of high-profile defensive ends in the 2015 NFL draft, including as many as six players who could get selected in the first three rounds.

The talent drain isn’t as acute at defensive tackle, with a fairly weak outgoing crop of players. Most of the SEC’s best interior defensive linemen return, including Robert Nkemdiche (Ole Miss), A’Shawn Robinson (Alabama), Harold Brantley (Missouri) and Chris Jones (Mississippi State).

The league constantly replinishes with five-star defensive ends and tackles. Which of those young players will fill the production of the outgoing stars?

Here are the SEC’s biggest losses at defensive line and each team’s likely replacement options this fall.

Trey Flowers and Darius Philon, Arkansas

Coach Bret Bielema bumped Deatrich Wise to the second-team defense during Saturday’s scrimmage, telling the media in a not-so-subtle way he wanted the defensive end to quit his fraternity, the track team or both. “That’s where he’ll stay (second team) until he gets everything in order,” Bielema said.

But Wise is perhaps the team’s best option to replace Flowers. He’s a better pass rusher already, and recorded three sacks Saturday. JaMichael Winston projects as the other starting end, and Tevin Beanum, working his way back from offseason arrest, is another key player in the defensive end rotation.

Bijhon Jackson is starting at nose guard with Taiwan Johnson at tackle. DeMarcus Hodge and freshman Hjalte Froholdt are the key rotational players in the middle.

The defensive line may not have a standout like Flowers and Philon, but should be deeper overall. Bielema is counting on an eight-man rotation that can match what Arkansas did with a few standouts in 2014.

Dante Fowler, Florida

Alex McCalister produced more sacks than Fowler during the regular season last year. This year, McCalister has proclaimed he’s going to get double-digit sacks, which would make him one of the fiercest pass rushers in the SEC.

He arrived in Gainesville at 6-foot-6 and 215 pounds, needing essentially two redshirt seasons to add weight and become physically able to tango with starting SEC offensive linemen. Now he’s in the mid-240s depending on the day, eating entire large pizzas at night whenever he can and otherwise working closely with a team nutritionist.

Long and explosive, McCalister could be the junior leaving early for the NFL draft if the 2015 season goes as he hopes it will. Jon Bullard made the (smart) decision to return to school. Getting any significant contributions from five-star CeCe Jefferson, not an early enrollee, would be a bonus.

Caleb Brantley, Bryan Cox Jr., Joey Ivie and Thomas Holley all should play roles along the defensive line as well.

Bud Dupree and Za’Darius Smith, Kentucky

Heavy rotation and blitz packages. That’s how the Wildcats will replace two certain draft picks along the defensive line, including a possible first-rounder in Dupree. (Counting defensive tackle Mike Douglas, the team lost three of its four starters.)

Kentucky plants to implement a 3-4 front more heavily after the team experimented with it some last year. The team is loaded with tweener guys who can play with their hand in the ground or standing up. But for now, defensive end Jason Hatcher and defensive tackle Melvin Lewis are the two potential standouts. Lewis is the lone returning starter, while Hatcher is the best bet to inherit Dupree’s role specifically after backing him up last year.

Depending on whom you read — and it’s mostly bloggers, because the UK media spent most of spring practice following the basketball team — Farrington Huguenin, Jabari Johnson, Regie Meant, Denzil Ware and Kobie Walker all could play significant roles along the defensive line.

The team didn’t hold many open practices and Kentucky did not play a spring game due to renovations to Commonwealth Stadium, so we haven’t gotten as much clear insight out of Lexington, Ky. And what we have gotten on some of the other defensive linemen who will play a role is scattershot.

The Wildcats would love for a star to emerge from that group — and perhaps Matt Elam can get into shape and grow into his body as well. But the team’s best strategy may be to continually throw fresh bodies at the opposing offensive line.

Shane Ray and Markus Golden, Missouri

Although Rickey Hatley interrupted the succession plan at times in 2014, Charles Harris and Marcus Loud have been tapped as the replacements for Ray and Golden since before last season.

Unlike last year, when the team lost two NFL draft picks at defensive end and got better, there should be a drop-off this fall.

Loud, a 6-foot-4 sophomore to be, is an emotional, nuanced personality from a tough background, and at times he’s found it challenging to harness those emotions at Missouri. But if he starts to mature, 2015 could represent a major step forward for him on the field. The Tigers need that to be the case.

“He had a short temper. He was so young and immature,” Hatley said, according to the Columbia Tribune. He done grown up.”

Harris, another “diamond in the rough” athlete who didn’t even have a recruiting profile in high school, got recruited as a hoops standout witnessed by one Gary Pinkel after a tip.

Mizzou, though, won’t replace Ray and Golden. Instead, the tip of the spear for the defense likely will shift inside. Harold Brantley is an emerging SEC superstar. Josh Augusta is a mountain of a man, and has some similarities to former Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody. Hatley has gotten run with the first-team defense at tackle, and five-star Terry Beckner Jr. will arrive this summer.

Preston Smith and Kaleb Eulls, Mississippi State

Last season, Chris Jones failed to match the seven sacks he made as a five-star freshman in 2013, in part because offenses hurled multiple blockers at his 6-foot-5, 308-pound frame. A gap remains between his play and the sky-high expectations he brought with him to Starkville, Miss., but he should be the focal point of new coordinator Manny Diaz’ defense.

At end, the Bulldogs don’t appear to have anyone capable of the kind of disruption Smith provided (9 sacks, 15 tackles for loss). Ryan Brown, an upcoming senior, is reliable and can stop the run, but he hasn’t been as explosive to this point in his career.

A.J. Jefferson didn’t play as much as Brown last season, but nearly matched his pass-rush production. He’s no Smith, at least from what we’ve seen of him. But there’s a good chance he’s the team’s best pass rusher at end in 2015, and he’s performed well during spring scrimmages.

Defensive line is a major area of concern for the Bulldogs. Diaz and coach Dan Mullen must find a way to develop those three players.