SEC Debate: Toughest rebuild at defensive line?
Marcus Golden and Shane Ray. Za’Darius Smith and Bud Dupree. Preston Smith and Kaleb Eulls. Trey Flowers and Darius Philon.
Several SEC teams lost two likely NFL draft picks along the defensive line after the 2014 season. Some of those teams (Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi State and Arkansas) lost an additional veteran starter on top of that.
Then again, no single conference recruits a single position so well as the SEC and defensive linemen. With that in mind, which SEC team faces the most difficult reconstruction at defensive line in 2015? We put the question to our SDS writers this week.
WHICH SEC TEAM FACES THE TOUGHEST REBUILDING JOB AT DEFENSIVE LINE?
Brad Crawford (@BCrawfordSDS): South Carolina
It’s strange because the Gamecocks are overhauling — not rebuilding — based on personnel. Marquavius Lewis, Dexter Wideman and Dante Sawyer could all be first-year starters up front as newcomers, replacing a list of returning players who struggling as pass rushers last season. Lorenzo Ward’s going to have help from Jon Hoke to ensure this unit improves, but it’s still an uphill climb for a group that ranked at the bottom of the SEC in overall production last fall.
Christopher Smith (@csmithSDS): Missouri
Just because a team is equipped to handle it doesn’t make it easier. (The question isn’t about which team will experience the biggest drop-off.) The Tigers are losing 42.5 tackles for loss from just two players. The pairs from Arkansas (27), Kentucky (20) and Mississippi State (18) don’t come close. Mizzou’s defensive ends arguably were the top duo at the position in the country in 2014, and at worst were a top-three pair. Worse, the team’s 2013 starting defensive ends both got drafted last year, meaning the Tigers will have seen four defensive ends get drafted since April 2014.
Ethan Levine (@ELevineSDS): Kentucky
I considered Arkansas (Trey Flowers and Darius Philon) and Mississippi State (Preston Smith and Kaleb Eulls) as answers to this question, and while those losses may be significant for those schools, they’re not as significant as the losses UK is dealing with upon the departures of Bud Dupree and Za’Darius Smith. Both star defensive ends will likely be selected in the first four rounds of the NFL Draft, and considering UK has only had two players at any position drafted that high in the last two years combined, it’s easy to see why these losses are detrimental for the Cats. More importantly, UK lacks the depth to replace those talents that teams like Arkansas and Mississippi State possess, which ultimately leads me to use my alma mater as the answer to this debate.
Brett Weisband (@WeisbandSDS): Arkansas
Picking the Razorbacks doesn’t mean I don’t think they have the talent on hand to fill in for their departing stars; former backup Bihjon Jackson and new arrivals Jeremiah Ledbetter and Hjalte Froholdt, as well as incumbents Taiwan Johnson and JaMichael Winston provide the depth and talent Arkansas needs to fill in for Trey Flowers and Darius Philon. The bigger challenge for Arkansas will be rebuilding the line to the point where it can match last year’s dominant performance. The Hogs quietly had one of the toughest run defenses in the country last season — well, quiet until its late-season prime time performances — and they’ll need to replicate that to take another step forward in Bret Bielema’s rebuilding project.