Earlier this summer, we revealed our Top 50 SEC player rankings heading into the season, a comprehensive list featuring numerous future draft picks, potential stars and breakout players who will succeed in more expansive roles this all.

Piggy-backing off our rankings, here’s a glance at the league’s 10 best defensive players, guys we expect to produce at a higher level than their peers at the same positions. On Wednesday, we revealed the SEC’s 10 best on offense.

Ranking the SEC’s 10 best defensive players in 2015

10. Tony Conner, DB, Ole Miss

  • 2014 stats: Started all 13 games, helping the Rebels lead the nation in scoring defense (16.0 ppg)

Closer look: An underrated ballhawk and terrifying hitter in the Ole Miss secondary, Conner started every game at the Huskie safety position as a sophomore and led all SEC defensive backs with nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Instinctive with great closing speed, Conner is one of the league’s top tacklers in space and is a leader on a Top 5 defense.

9. Reggie Ragland, LB, Alabama

  • 2014 stats: 95 tackles, 10.5 TFL, Butkus Award semifinalist

Closer look: Many believe Ragland is soon to have his name listed among the noteworthy Tide linebackers before him as the SEC’s best at his position. He emerged as a first-year starter last fall and earned a semifinalist nod for the Butkus Award following a 95-tackle campaign, good enough for first-team All-SEC accolades. Ragland was a player Kirby Smart could count on in run support or in coverage.

8. Cam Sutton, DB, Tennessee

  • 2014 stats: 37 tackles, 13 pass breakups, 3 INT

Closer look: The SEC’s only starting corner to not have a defensive pass interference called against him last season, Sutton has started every game in his collegiate career on the outside in Knoxville. His 16 passes defended last season was the third-best total for a single campaign in program history. Sutton will be asked to shoulder even more of the pass defense burden this season as a three-down corner and specialist in nickel packages now that the Vols are down a defensive back following a season-ending injury to Rashaan Gaulden.

7. Jonathan Allen, DL, Alabama

  • 2014 stats: 11.5 TFL, 5.5 sacks

Closer look: Another member of what some analysts call Alabama’s most talented front seven in school history, Allen established himself as an elite pass rusher as a sophomore and even blocked a PAT against Arkansas that preserved a road win over the Hogs. The former five-star has surged up the Crimson Tide depth chart since serving as a rotational player in 2013. He became a three-down player in his second season.

6. A’Shawn Robinson, DL, Alabama

  • 2014 stats: 49 tackles, 6.5 TFL

Closer look: The third Alabama defensive stalwart in our Top 10, Robinson faced lofty expectations last season after earning consensus freshman All-America status during the 2013 campaign, but still managed to be named all-league honorable mention at nose tackle. A mountain of a man at 6-foot-4, 315 pounds, Robinson can play inside or out in Nick Saban’s 3-4 look defensively and is one of the SEC’s toughest players to block off the snap. His immediate backfield surge ranks among the nation’s best for a down lineman.

5. Myles Garrett, DL, Texas A&M

  • 2014 stats: Earned Freshman All-America accolades after posting 11.5 sacks and 14 TFL

Closer look: Garrett broke Jadeveon Clowney’s SEC freshman record for sacks last season, leading the West Division with 11.5 as a disruptive playmaker at defensive end. Garrett made eight starts and seemed to take off in run support during the second half of the season when he became a three-down force up front for the Aggies. A feared pass rusher with an array of moves, one of college football’s ‘freaks’ is gunning for SEC defensive player of the year honors as a sophomore.

4. Derek Barnett, DL, Tennessee

  • 2014 stats: Set school record for most TFLs (20.5) and most sacks (10.0) by a true freshman

Closer look: This future first-round pick was the SEC’s top freshman (on defense) last season, contributing 10 sacks and a team-best 20.5 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The 260-pound tank from Nashville didn’t show many weaknesses and separated himself from others at his position nationally as the season wore on. My frontrunner for the league’s defensive player of the year this fall, Barnett has a chance to become of the league’s all-time greats in the trenches by 2016 if his progress continues.

3. Leonard Floyd, LB, Georgia

  • 2014 stats: Voted Georgia’s defensive MVP after registering 55 tackles, 8.5 TFL and 6 sacks

Closer look: A freakish hybrid pass rusher who will play several positions on Jeremy Pruitt’s defense this season, has Clowney-like quickness and length. He was recently called “the LeBron James of our defense” by fellow Georgia linebacker Davin Bellamy. Floyd is the headliner within the Bulldogs’ Wolfpack, a nickname given to the team’s core of athletic outside linebackers. The 6-foot-5 playmaker notched a team-best 6 sacks last fall and is coming off a shoulder injury that kept him sidelined during spring practice.

2. Vernon Hargreaves, CB, Florida

  • 2014 stats: Unanimous first-team All-SEC pick after leading the league with 13 pass breakups

Closer look: College football’s top corner is unfortunately buried at times on a mediocre team, but he has a bright future at the next level on the heels of back-to-back All-America nods in the Florida secondary. You simply don’t throw Hargreaves’ way unless you want to pay dearly for the mistake. He’s posted a league-leading 24 pass breakups since the start of the 2013 season and has six career interceptions. A first-round lock after his junior season if Hargreaves decided to come out, the Gators’ best player is hoping to lead this team to another bowl game as a captain under Jim McElwain.

1. Robert Nkemdiche, DL, Ole Miss

  • 2014 stats: Second-team All-American after recording 35 tackles

Closer look: Named to consecutive All-America teams, there’s a reason NFL scouts salivate watching Nkemdiche’s tape. He never loses a 1-on-1 battle against opposing guards and causes nightmares for offenses centered around tempo. Nkemdiche is more than a pest up front, he’s an animal who bullies his way into the backfield with power and quickness. Nkemdiche said he’s focused on a breakout statistical season as a junior during what will likely be his final campaign before hearing his name called early in the draft.