Our defensive starters are mostly backups pressed into service

Guys like Ego and Anthony Johnson are gap filler type of players who spend most of their careers rotating out the starters. But given the attrition, we've had to press them into service. The same is true for most of the LB corps and the secondary with one or two exceptions.

As much as it sounds like an excuse, the attrition on defense hurt tremendously this year. Other teams face it too including Bama but this is where Bama recruits just a little better with more depth.