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As a matter of fact, Bama's defense will experience a HUGE dropoff next year, as you lose 5 seniors and probably 2 EE juniors (Kirkpatrick and Hightower).

2012's defense will experience a dropoff because of talent, experience and leadership that will be lost. Whether the dropoff is huge will depend in large part to how well the two juco corners pickup Saban's schemes, and how impactful the replacements for Upshaw and Hightower are.

The fact is that this was a special year for Bama because their defense matured together as a group, not because they have incredible depth in the freshman and sophomore classes.

You had better hope that players like Milliner, Dickson, Hubbard, and Clinton-Dix are as good as advertised, because you will need them next year. They have very little experience - so even if they are talented it will take at least a year of growing pains for them to solidify as a unit.

LSU, meanwhile, might be better on D.

I don't think there is any question that LSU should return a better defense than Alabama next year, but how much better will be determined in part by whether Montgomery and Brockers return.

I also think that the losses of Claiborne, Brooks and Taylor will be felt.

Alabama will be solid but young and unproven. The most significant losses may be in leadership on defense. Barron, Hightower and Chapman called all defensive signals in a complex system.

For what it is worth, I think LSU is the deepest team in the country. LSU may lose RS Sophs because they are so talented. Miles develops depth much better than Saban. He plays young players in meaningful parts of games. Miles' (Chavis) defenses rely more on athleticism and Saban's rely more on complicated schemes. Miles turns talented athletes loose, Saban requires a much longer learning curve before he trusts young players.

This post was edited on 12/27/11 at 5:42 pm