Lazy playcalling is way more to blame than recruiting.

We've recruited better on defense than we have offense.

There are two 5-stars on the defensive line (Cox/Dexter), two "could be five stars" at LB (Diwun Black and Wingo), Chatfield is a 4-star, Bogle is a 4-star. Diabate is a 4-star, David Reese is a 4-star. Trey Dean is a 4-star. Kaair Elam is a 4-star. Ethan Pouncey is a 4-star, Avery Helm, Kimborough, Torrence, Hill, Princely Umanmielen, Summerall are all four star recruits. We have 4 and 5-star recruits in our two deep at every defensive position.

Tra'Vez Johnson, arguably our best defensive player the last two weeks in the secondary, is one of the only ones who is a 3-star and he's literally on the cusp of being a 4-star. (.8800, .89 is generally 4-star range.)Same with Kimbrough (.8855)

It's not a recruiting problem.

Mullen just doesn't throw his young guys in the fire, he's trying to get all of these older guys jobs in the NFL before they go, and obviously it won't pan out.

But throwing the young guys out there when Grantham has checked out is a great way to get a lot of them to start hating Mullen because no one wants to be scapegoated when they have less time in the system and less overall time practicing.

Almost all of these holdovers are McElwain specials starting on defense, and there's no way we could claim Mullen is the problem the first season/class he took over from McElwain which was already terrible.

The guys he's bringing in are good, a new DC and most of his guys starting next year and we'll revisit this thread and say to ourselves: How did the defense get so good so fast?