re: Is anybody worried about the defense?

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largely due to the number of players we lost in the last couple years


I really don't see how this even matters.

1) Turnover is a part of CFB and always has been. College eligibility is limited. It's not some new thing.

2) We recruit at a crazy clip.

3) Regarding the "number of players we lost in the last couple of years" - What do you think happened the couple of years before that? We lost a ton of elite talent.

Simply put, Saban recruits at such a high level and has proven time and time again that he'll put an incredible defense on the field each and every year. Sure there are ups and downs relatively speaking, but since 2008, the lowest we've finished the year in Total Defense is 12th, which was in 2014. We've been top 3 every other year.

And while it's unreasonable to expect each unit of our defense to be the best in football, statistically speaking our bottom as a defense is top-15 and will more likely be one of the best defenses in CFB.

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Turnover matters because experience matters, no matter how good and talented a team is leadership and experience is necessary for a team to operate at its maximum potential. But I basically said the exact thing, that i'm not worried and expect us to have a "very very good / elite level defense" but due to turnover or just how i feel about the returning players I don't anticipate this to be a "best defense we have had under Saban?".

For example 2011 was awesome and then after a couple years of losing a ton there was a slight drop off while still having a very good defense and then the last few years we have had that "best defense under Saban" tier (being able to fight through injuries last year was so impressive) so i feel like its due for a slight dip to only very very good / elite level, and not quite that top tier. We got a lot of experience due to those injuries but still have a lot of need for people to step up into leadership roles and questions like that.

You are essentially agreeing with me unless I am missing something.