Five of the 10 SEC players with triple-digit tackles during the 2014 season are returning this fall. All five players are linebackers in the SEC East, which will count on the position group to try to claw back even with the West in 2015.
Here are the Top 10 returning SEC defensive players ranked by their tackles in 2014.
| Player | ’15 Class | School | ’14 Tackles |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kentrell Brothers | Senior | Missouri | 122 |
| 2. Michael Scherer | Junior | Missouri | 114 |
| 3. Josh Forrest | Senior | Kentucky | 110 |
| 4. Jalen Reeves-Maybin | Junior | Tennessee | 101 |
| 5. Antonio Morrison | Senior | Florida | 101 |
| T6. Johnathan Ford | Junior | Auburn | 93 |
| T6. Skai Moore | Junior | South Carolina | 93 |
| T6. Reggie Ragland | Senior | Alabama | 93 |
| 9. Cassanova McKinzy | Senior | Auburn | 91 |
| 10. Brian Randolph | Senior | Tennessee | 88 |
Missouri returns 236 combined tackles from Brothers and Scherer, who will be in line for another huge statistical output this season behind a stout group of defensive tackles.
Alabama’s Ragland is the only AP first-team All-SEC player from the ’14 season, while Brothers and Morrison made second-team All-SEC.
Every returning Top 10 tackler in the conference is an upperclassman, and the majority are seniors. That’s in contrast to the returning offensive leaders, many of whom are sophomores and juniors.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
