There have been some stellar defense fielded by Auburn and especially under Tuberville but next year's unit has the potential to be not only the best of the Tuberville era but on paper it could be the best we've seen in quite sometime.

More on the flip.

I'm going to make a few assumptions here with a couple of players and the depth chart but its based on a belief in their talent.

Defensive line:

SDE   Raven Gray (Fr)             6-4   260
NT    Charles Deas (Fr)           6-4   325
DT    Pat Sims (Sr)                  6-4   315
WDE   Antonio Coleman (So)  6-2   245

My guess is that both Raven Gray and Charles Deas have the talent to start immediately especially with NT Josh Thompson leaving.  However, with Raven Gray's recent injury I could see Sen'Derrick Marks staying put at SDE or even moving inside to replace Thompson with Deas providing a devastating 1-2 punch with Sims at DT.  Either way this should be a defensive line that is going to be tough to run and with DE's Antoine Carter (6-4 226), Bryant Miller (6-4 265), Darrell Roseman (6-4 260), and A.J. Greene (6-5 265) we should be able to produce some serious pressure on the QB.  

Linebackers:

SLB   Craig Stevens (So)     6-2   220
MLB   Tray Blackmon (Jr)     6-0   225
WLB   Chris Evans (Sr)       6-0   220

While 2007 was really a struggle for the linebacking unit due to injuries and academics it did allow us to build some serious depth here.  It is however a unit that could see a true freshman starting if we haul in a guy LB Jerrell Harris but if not any unit the begins with Tray Blackmon is a pretty good unit.  With veterans Merrill Johnson and experienced sophmores Bo Harris and Josh Bynes this should be a real strength in 2008.

Defensive backfield:

FS    Mike McNeil (So)         6-2   208
SS    Zach Ethridge (So)     5-11  200

CB    Jerraud Powers (Jr)    5-9   185
CB    Ryan Williams (So)     5-11  190

Here is where I've really bought into the talent of guys like McNeil and Williams and the belief that they are playmakers which our defense is going to need.  It also means we have some sick depth even after losing a number of experienced seniors.  I have to believe that CTT is going to have to play some true freshman back here in 2008 and if youre going to do it then you want to do it with players like T'Sharvan Bell coming in.