Who are the top defensive linemen in SEC history?

We’ve spent the last several weeks flipping through team-specific media guides, glancing over highlight film and nearly coming to blows at our home office determining this 25-member comprehensive list of the league’s best defensive linemen.

Editor’s note: The SDS staff weighed multiple factors during our SEC’s all-time defensive linemen rankings process including career statistics, individual awards, importance to their respective team and the era in which they played.

25.) JOHN COPELAND, ALABAMA (1989-92)

Interchangeable in our ranking at the No. 25 and 24 spots, Eric Curry and Copeland were ideal bookends for Alabama during the Crimson Tide’s SEC championship season in 1992, the first time the league played a conference title game.

Copeland’s 10.5 sacks that season tied for the team lead with Curry, the fourth-highest total all time in a single campaign. In the 1993 NFL Draft, Copeland was selected one spot before Curry, going fifth overall to the Cincinnati Bengals.

He played there eight seasons were he compiled 263 tackles and 24.5 sacks as an every-down pass rusher.

Career numbers:

17.5 sacks

Individual superlatives:

Consensus All-American (1992); All-SEC (1992)

NFL Draft:

No. 5 overall in 1993

24.) ERIC CURRY, ALABAMA (1989-92)

One of Alabama’s best players on the nation’s top-ranked defense in 1992, Curry saved his best for last and was a consensus choice as a first team All-American that season during the Crimson Tide’s national title run. His 10.5 sacks tied for the team lead with Copeland, the fourth-highest total all time in a single season.

Curry finished ninth in Heisman voting that season and a few months later was selected sixth overall in the 1993 draft. He played seven years and in 75 career games, made 95 tackles and contributed 12.5 sacks.

Roommates at Alabama, it was Curry who convinced Copeland not to quit the team during spring practice 1991. Copeland grew tired of the coaching staff and daily workouts, but Curry convinced him to stay.

Career numbers:

22.5 sacks

Individual superlatives:

Consensus All-American (1992); All-SEC (1992)

NFL Draft:

No. 6 overall in 1993

23.) ZEKE SMITH, AUBURN (1956-58)

A dominant nose guard on the Tigers’ unbeaten team in 1958, Smith earned All-American honors and the Outland Trophy as a senior after leading Auburn to one of its seven unclaimed national championships in program history.

One of the team’s leader in tackles that fall, Smith headlined a group that limited Tennessee to minus-33 yards and no first downs during a 13-0 season-opening win at Legion Field. Legendary coach Bobby Dodd called Smith at the time “the best SEC lineman” he’s seen in the last decade.

Smith started on both sides of the ball as an interior lineman for the Tigers.

Smith’s one of five players with a banner hanging outside of Jordan-Hare Stadium, joining Bo Jackson, Tracy Rocker, Pat Sullivan and Carlos Rogers. Since 1977, Auburn has given its team defensive most valuable player the Zeke Smith Award at season’s end.

Career numbers:

N/A

Individual superlatives:

All-American (1958); All-SEC (1958); Outland Trophy (1958)

NFL Draft:

No. 48 overall (fourth round) in 1959

22.) GREG HARDY, OLE MISS (2006-09)

A future premiere pass rusher at the next level, Hardy led the Rebels in sacks three seasons in Oxford despite only making 13 starts in 40 career games and is Mississippi’s all-time sack leader (26.5). Moonlighting as a red zone threat with soft hands, Hardy also made six touchdown receptions during his stint with the Rebels.

Multiple injuries in college led to Hardy slipping in the 2010 NFL Draft where the Carolina Panthers landed him in the sixth round. There he blossomed into an near instantaneous playmaker in the trenches, contributing 34 sacks in 63 games before his marriage ended with the franchise.

Career numbers:

38.5 tackles-for-loss, 26.5 sacks

Individual superlatives:

Freshman All-American (2006); All-SEC (2007-08)

NFL Draft:

No. 179 overall (sixth round) in 2010

21.) MELVIN INGRAM, SOUTH CAROLINA (2007-11)

A late bloomer with the Gamecocks who began his career as a linebacker, Ingram flourished when South Carolina’s coaching staff moved him up front to star on the same defensive line as Jadeveon Clowney. The bullrusher managed 19 sacks over his final two seasons leading to a first-round selection in the 2012 NFL Draft.

During a 45-42 win at Georgia as a fifth-year senior, Ingram scored a touchdown on a 68-yard fake punt in the first half and later scooped up a Jadeveon Clowney forced fumble and rumbled into the end zone. The memorable performance in Athens spearheaded Ingram’s status as a first-team All-American that season as the Gamecocks finished No. 4 in the country — their highest ranking ever.

Ingram’s 21.5 career sacks ranks fifth all-time in program history.

Career numbers:

30.5 tackles-for-loss, 21.5 sacks

Individual superlatives:

Consensus All-American (2011); All-SEC (2011)

NFL Draft:

No. 18 overall in 2012