Florida - CeCe Jefferson, DE
Jefferson is an absolute monster at the defensive end position, and Florida fans are going to be relieved that their pass rush won't entirely go away with the early departure of Dante Fowler and he should be a good compliment to Jon Bullard, Florida's current best DE. McElwain has a great offensive mind, but he may need to rely on his defense to win some games with the departures and lack of talent Florida has on the offensive side of the ball right now (in general, they looked like Gods against us). One improvement I would like to see Jefferson make is just having a little bit more of a motor when he looks to be out of the play. When he thinks he can get to the quarterback, or make a play on the RB he is an absolute nightmare. In the SEC though, you can't really give up on plays the way you can in high school because teams will take advantage of that. All that being said, I think Geoff Collins and Chris Rumph will be able to use Jefferson's talent to terrorize opposing offenses next season.

UGA - Trent Thompson, DT
In case a couple of y'all didn't notice, Georgia occasionally (ok, maybe more than occasionally) struggled with their run defense last year and Trent Thompson should be able to come in right away and compete for major playing time. I know it was just at the high school level, but Thompson has shown almost an elite ability to shed blocks, avoid blocks, and break through double teams. Thompson averaged over 3 TFLs per game last year, and ideally for the Dawgs Pruitt can use him in a similar way that he used Timmy Jernigan at FSU a couple years ago. UGA is going to face many great running backs next year (Drake, Henry, Robinson, Thomas, Taylor, Williams, Wilds, Hurd, Kamara, GT's stable) and a good run defense will be essential if the Dawgs want to get to Atlanta next season. Hopefully Thompson can be that player we were missing last year.

Kentucky - Chris Westry, CB
Westry definitely isn't one of the more well-known players from UK's class of 2015, but he is one who Stoops has recently said that has been standing out in practice. Westry is a very tall cornerback at 6-4, and even though he's only 185 pounds he does a really good job with being physical with the receiver at the line of scrimmage. Westry may need to work on his agility a little bit (which may be tough at 6-4), but he does have a good top end speed (reported 4.43). His height will also be an advantage when facing up against a tall WR that would be able to dominate much smaller corners. I'm interested to see if someone this lanky can succeed in the SEC at cornerback right off the bat, but we might be given that opportunity this year when watching UK play.

Missouri - Terry Beckner Jr., DT
After some academic questions, Beckner was cleared to enroll at Mizzou in early June and he has the chance to be a breakout player for the Tigers in 2015. Hopefully, Harold Brantley will be fully healed up from his car accident this summer, but Beckner's incredible athleticism will give him a chance to play and at least give some more depth at that position. Beckner is one of the most explosive guys I've seen and I think Mizzou would greatly benefit from using him in obvious passing situations because getting to the quarterback is clearly his greatest attribute as of now. He'll get better in the running game the more time he spends in the weight room, and the more time he spends under one of the best DCs in the game.

South Carolina - Marquavius Lewis, DE
South Carolina absolutely cleaned up in recruiting JUCO defensive ends last year (Lewis, Wideman, Sawyer) but the one who I'm most excited out of those three to watch is Lewis. South Carolina only sacked their opponents 14 times last year total, and the highest individual total out of that group were a couple players with 2 each. That's not acceptable in the SEC and Spurrier will not sit through another season with Lorenzo Ward if that's the case. I don't think it will be though with the improvement SC should get on the D Line. Lewis has one of the best swim moves I've seen out of every college player, and he uses that to get to the QB very well. Once he gets to you, you also better be holding onto the ball because he comes in trying to pry that thing away from you. I'm hoping that come September 19, UGA is able to keep him away from the QB because he is an incredibly impressive player.

Tennessee - Kahlil McKenzie, DT
Another incredible get of a defensive lineman by an SEC team, Scout had McKenzie ranked as the number one prospect in the country and he was the 2nd rated DT according to the 247 composite. Butch Jones has proven they can find players who can rush the passer (Maggitt, Barnett), but it is going to be really interesting to see if they can stop the run with the combination of true freshmen Mckenzie and Shy Tuttle. McKenzie is a massive man at 6-3, 340 and even though he and Tuttle are slightly unproven, they're going to be asked to do big things against the likes of OU, UF, Bama, and UGA this year. This tandem will definitely be brutal for years to come, but if they take advantage of the opportunity they have to step up right away, it may make the difference in Tennessee reaching Atlanta, or being 8-4 in the regular season.

Vanderbilt - Josh Smith, LB
I wrote a little bit about Smith in the defensive players I'm looking forward most to watching this year, but I have no problem talking about him again because he's clearly the best recruit coming into Vandy next year. Smith definitely needs to put on a little weight to be an every down player, but he has so much more skill already than many returning starters from Vandy's team. He always seems to be in the right place to find the guy with the ball and is a pretty sure-handed tackler as well. Mason needs to build on the potential success of Smith in order to encourage other big name recruits to come to Vandy after they see what he did with his most talented recruit. I know that's a lot to put on a freshman, but he might be their most important player on the defensive side of the ball next year.