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Between rule changes that have benefitted the other side of the ball and the emergence of spread offenses that force players to cover and tackle in space, playing in a college football secondary has become much more difficult over the past 10-15 years. For a while, this resulted in higher scores across the country as offenses pressed their advantage to light up scoreboards and set records.
However, in the past couple of years, we’ve seen a bit of a defensive resurgence. Much of that has to do with the type of versatile athletes that now occupy many of college football’s best secondaries. Last year, players like Cooper DeJean (Iowa) and Malachi Starks (Georgia) and Trey Taylor (Air Force) exemplified the new blueprint for a defensive back in college football, flashing both coverage and tackling ability en route to being named Thorpe Award finalists.
Every team wants to build around a star player like that, but a secondary is only as good as its weakest link. To be truly effective on the back end, a team needs the right combination of talent, depth, chemistry and experience.
We’ve put together a list of teams we think have all those ingredients in droves. Here’s a look the best secondaries in the country entering the 2024 season.
1. Ohio State
The Buckeyes scored a major offseason win by signing the nation’s top-ranked transfer in Caleb Downs from Alabama, but he is only one part of a stacked secondary. The Buckeyes allowed a passer rating of 99.1 in 2023, which ranked No. 1 in the country and ahead of teams like Notre Dame, Michigan, and Iowa. From that defensive backfield, only safety Josh Proctor is gone. His spot will be filled by Downs, arguably the country’s top returning safety. Cornerback and potential top-10 draft pick…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ohio-state-notre-dame-among-blue-blood-programs-vying-for-best-college-football-db-room-entering-2024-season/
Author : Cameron Salerno
Publish date : 2024-06-14 17:09:50
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