Kevin Steele's Defenses At Clemson (stats)

I am leaving out his 2007 stint as Alabama's DC because that is clearly Saban's baby. At LSU, he will have 100% control of the defense so lets look at his numbers when he had a similar role at Clemson. Also, this is more recent, so it is the best we've got to go on.

*TOP is important for a defense as it keeps them off the field, so I edited and included that.*

National Rankings per NCAA's statistics database:

2009 (TOP on offense was #105):

#25 Scoring Defense
#20 Total Defense
#7 Pass Defense
#21 Pass Efficiency Defense
#67 Rushing Defense
#12 Tackles for a Loss
#11 Turnovers Gained
#64 3rd Down Defense
#114 Red Zone Defense


2010 (TOP on offense was #82):

#13 Scoring Defense
#19 Total Defense
#22 Pass Defense
#27 Pass Efficiency Defense
#28 Rushing Defense
#10 Tackles for a Loss
#72 Turnovers Gained
#49 3rd Down Defense
#98 Red Zone Defense


2011 (TOP on offense was #107):

#81 Scoring Defense
#71 Total Defense
#50 Pass Defense
#74 Pass Efficiency Defense
#83 Rushing Defense
#86 Tackles for a Loss
#49 Turnovers Gained
#73 3rd Down Defense
#83 Red Zone Defense




He had a mediocre year, improved in year 2 to have good defense, and then one horrible, disaster year. The thing that scares me the most though is that Red Zone Defense and 3rd down defense is always really bad.

This was not with chopped liver talent. Clemson has talent and they play in a weak conference.

Take the numbers for what you will. Just wanted to share so people can be more informed about this hire.