Bleacher Report announced its Top 25 Defenses for 2017 today and, as expected, that the University of Alabama tops that list. This comes as a surprise to virtually no one, considering the Tide’s dominant 2016 performance and its cast of returning stars. As Kerry Miller points out in the article, however, only two other SEC teams made the list, while eight ACC teams are in the group.
In its typical dominating way, the Tide allowed only 2,095 rushing yards the last 30 games, an extraordinary stat. Who else can say that no team should statistically expect to gain more than 70 yards a game against the Tide running the football? That’s about as dominant as it gets, especially considering the point Miller makes “that more than half of the teams in the country gave up at least 2,095 rushing yards in just 12-14 games this past season.” So how does Bama plug the holes left by Jonathan Allen, Reuben Foster, Ryan Anderson and Tim Williams, all who will be playing on Sunday’s this fall? Simple, says Miller: they fill them with “former 5-star recruits like Da’Shawn Hand, Daron Payne, Rashaan Evans and red-shirt freshman Ben Davis.”
The second team and only other team to make the list from the Yellowhammer State, however, may come as a surprise to many: The Troy Trojans. Under Head Coach Neal Brown—one of the youngest in college football—the Trojans showed out in 2016, posting a 10-3 record, earning them the nation’s best turnaround in college football. Troy was also the first Top-25 ranking in school history and in Sun Belt Conference history. The Trojans took National Champion Clemson to the absolute brink before losing an early September heart-breaker in Death Valley. At an impressive #6 on Bleacher’s preseason defense ranking, Troy’s D is projected to be better than Clemson’s in 2017, who Bleacher ranked 7th. The Trojans capped off the 2016 campaign with a victory over Ohio in the Dollar General Bowl, and as Miller pointed out, Troy’s aggressive secondary posted 22 interceptions and broke up 54 passes last year. As he concluded, “Four of the five primary members of that secondary are back, including Blace Brown, who tied for the Sun Belt lead in interceptions with six.” Look for Troy to have another stellar season under Brown’s leadership with a stingy defense that’s likely to make waves like it did last fall.”
As expected, the Tide will be king of the hill on defense in 2017, with the likes of Minkah Fitzpatrick, Ronnie Harrison, and Anthony Averett returning. As Miller concluded, “Alabama might have the best secondary in the nation. We’ll see how long it takes the Crimson Tide to start firing on all cylinders in the front seven after losing seven of their 14 top tacklers from last season, but there’s no doubt they’ll rank among the best defenses in the nation, as per usual.”
