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2020 Unit Rankings – Defensive Backs

Joel Hollingsworth
Shawn Shamburger

So far, here’s where the Vols’ units have ranked in the SEC heading into the 2020 season:

Today, we’ll look at the defensive backs.

2020 SEC Defensive Back Rankings

The Bulldogs defense loses about half of its production in the secondary, but we’ll say this again: They were the nation’s third-best defense and the league’s best last fall. And even though J.R. Reed is gone, Richard LeCounte, Eric Stokes, DJ Daniel, Mark Webb, Divaad Wilson, and Lewis Cine are not. Not satisfied, Georgia went out and landed elite defensive back Kelee Ringo, who ranks first in our GSEC100, and two others also in our GSEC100 in Jalen Kimber and Major Burns.
2019 Total Defense (in yards per game) Returning Production Unit Recruiting Ranking
1 PBUs INTs Tackles
276 35 7 274 1

2019 Total Defense (in yards per game) Returning Production Unit Recruiting Ranking The Gators will miss NFL-bound CJ Henderson, but they return 59% of their production in the secondary.
PBUs INTs Tackles
2 305 17 15 245 7
2019 Total Defense (in yards per game) Returning Production Unit Recruiting Ranking The Wildcats were quietly solid on defense last season, and they return 91% of their backfield this fall.
PBUs INTs Tackles
3 322 32 3 224 9
2019 Total Defense (in yards per game) Returning Production Unit Recruiting Ranking Nigel Warrior and his four interceptions are gone for the Vols, but everybody else is back for another year under Jeremy Pruitt.
PBUs INTs Tackles
4 334 14 9 257 4

Rank Team 2019 Total Defense (in yards per game) Returning Production Unit Recruiting Ranking
PBUs INTs Tackles
5 Texas A&M 340 21 7 264 2
6 LSU 344 40 13 247 6
7 Auburn 337 20 4 154 4
8 South Carolina 393 23 8 231 13
9 Alabama 324 14 4 114 3
10 Vanderbilt 437 20 6 328 14
11 Missouri 312 22 0 160 12
12 Arkansas 451 18 4 272 10
13 Mississippi State 399 16 5 194 11
14 Mississippi 417 15 2 179 8

Additional comments

A recurring theme for the Vols is that their defense ended up a Top 25 unit in 2019. The DBs were part of that, and although they have to replace Nigel Warrior this fall, he’s the only one. Also, it looks like the Vols better be able to run the ball in the SEC East this year. 🙂

Georgia, again, is at the top, as the Bulldogs return most of their secondary from a stellar defense in 2019. They’re on a level of their own.

The next five — Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas A&M, and LSU — are all bunched together. LSU may look low, but the Tigers’ defense wasn’t quite as good as some of the others, the pieces they lost are a little more painful (Grant Delpit, Kristian Fulton), and their recruiting for the unit was a bit behind the others. But it’s super close among all five of those teams. Tennessee, A&M, and LSU are all only separated by a total of 16 yards of projected defense.

Your thoughts

What do y’all think? Where did we get it right? Where are we wrong?