Texas A&M fans long for the old Wrecking Crew defense back in Aggieland.

The Aggies made a living in their heydays of the Southwest Conference and Big 12 Conference with a smash-mouth, brick wall defense. Then, in 2012, the university made the move to the SEC, where a really good defense sometimes just isn’t good enough.

The Texas A&M defense showed vast improvements in the 2015 campaign compared to its previous two years. Can the 2016 defense, with John Chavis as defensive coordinator for his second year, be the best in Kevin Sumlin’s tenure?

Going solely by total yards, defensive rankings and first downs allowed, the 2015 defense in Chavis’ first year at A&M was the best in the Sumlin era. However, the Aggies slumped to an 8-5 record while the 2012 defense — the first under Sumlin — helped lead the Aggies to an 11-2 record and Cotton Bowl win over a powerful Oklahoma team.

Before examining the 2016 team, here’s a look at what made the 2012 team the best in the last four years.

First, the Aggies were more than a one-trick Johnny Manziel pony before he became a full-blown circus in the NFL. Sure, Manziel dazzled the country, beat Alabama and became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman trophy. But the Aggies had a phenomenal run defense.

Behind a stout defensive line, the Aggies allowed only 139.5 yards per game on the ground in 2012. They gave up 250.7 yards game in the air that year, but take away blowout games where opponents were forced to throw the ball, and the 450 yards Louisiana Tech threw in a wild, wacky 59-57 Aggies win, then that 250 would be lower.

Secondly, Texas A&M didn’t give up gobs of points — other than to Louisiana Tech — in 2012. In their two losses that season, Texas A&M gave up only 20 points to Florida and 24 to LSU. In the game that brought Manziel to superstardom (29-24 win at Alabama), the Aggies defense held tight.

Third, the Aggies played their best defense in the first half as opponents scored a combined 37 points in the first quarter and 78 in the second quarter — for the season. Texas A&M could outscore its opponents that season, and the defense propelled them to an 11-2 record and 41-13 blowout of Oklahoma.

The run defense was one of the best in the SEC in 2012, but the Aggies total defense ranked 12th in the conference and 67th in the country after allowing 390.2 yards per game.

The 2015 defense ranked 51st in the country and eighth in the conference at 380 yards a game. That’s far and above better than the previous two seasons (121st in the country in 2013 at 475.8 yards per game and 104th in 2014 with at 450.8).

The ’15 defense gave up 213 yards a game on the ground, but just 166.3 in the air. Texas A&M piddled to an 8-5 record in 2015, mostly because the defense couldn’t control the run game like the one in 2012.

The Aggies have put a few defensive players in the NFL the last three years, including Tony Jerod-Eddie (DE), Deshazor Everett (CB), Damontre Moore (DE), Sean Porter (LB), Floyd Raven (S) and Steven Terrell (FS).

Of that group, defensive ends Jerod-Eddie and Moore played on the run-stuffing defense of ’12 before going pro. Texas A&M has two salty ends coming back in senior Daeshon Hall and junior Myles Garrett. Both ends think the Aggies will be much improved this season.

“We’ve all come together, gotten older and got some more time to gel so we already knew that we were going to get the job done on our side,” Garrett said after the spring game. “It just starts to become what are they going to do, pointing out tendencies and backfield sets to see where the ball is going to go.”

Hall said age and experience will play a factor for the defense.

“It started in the offseason, we’ve just been working hard in spring ball, lifting weights, doing the little things,” Hall said. “Everybody is older so we know what we’re doing now and everybody knows what we’re doing on the field. I feel like we’re just getting older and better in general.”

The Aggies will have more experience on defense than they’ve had in a long time, including another big run stopper in defensive tackle Daylon Mack.

“Without a doubt, we’ve got more experienced players on defense and you’ve got probably a number of NFL players right there, half the defense that played and that’s without Donovan Wilson even being out there playing now,” Sumlin said after the spring game. “When you put our two ends out there, you put our tackles who, say what you want, but freshmen Kingsley Keke and Daylon Mack played a lot of football last year.

“Our two safeties are experienced, you saw them tackle today. It’s a big difference in the perimeter with those two guys and then when some other guys go out there and try to tackle our guys, you add Donovan to that mix, those guys have played a lot of snaps and are better players and they’ve seen a lot of football.”

Whether or not they’ll be the best in Sumlin’s short time in College Station remains to be seen. The tough schedule begins with UCLA at home, and then the Aggies will play a load of SEC teams like Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, Mississippi State and LSU’s Heisman-hopeful Leonard Fournette who all make a living on running the ball.

If Texas A&M can stop the run, it could be another banner year for the Aggies.