← Always College Football with Greg McElroy
Always College Football with Greg McElroy
Top 10 secondaries in College Football heading into 2026!
00:34:12
Who has the best secondaries in college football, the ones that could change games, the ones who could swing college football playoff races? Would you rather have Ohio State’s or Michigan’s secondary? Texas Tech showed out last year, can Pollock & Boyd do it again? Does Notre Dame have the best player on the best secondary or can Alabama lay claim to both? Are the transfers ready to step up EVERYWHERE and where do Texas A&M, Oregon, Georgia and LSU land in the rankings? McElroy ranks the Top 10 “no fly zone” DB units in 2026.
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As of this moment, this is where we're at with the best defensive back units in college football entering the season. The ones that could change games, the ones that, that could swing college football playoff races. Hello and welcome in it's always college football. I'm your host, Greg McElroy. Happy to have you back with us today because we've done the quarterbacks, we've done wide receivers, we've done defensive lines. But we want to continue on with our position unit rankings with the group that could decide more games than just about any other position on the field this fall, especially given where offenses are trending. And that's the secondaries, the defensive backs. And I tell you before we get into this list, because the rankings that you might have seen elsewhere, the ones that are based off of 2025 production or lack thereof against these rankings, many are using that as kind of tombstone rankings, right? They're, they're a little bit. All right, well, with the movement and the departures and the graduations, like it took a little while to put this together. You also take into account some of the leagues that these teams are playing in and different identities that they see on a week to week basis. But when you look at last year's secondaries as far as overall production, some of the best secondaries in the country you might not even know about. For example, Arizona last year was one of the better defensive back units in the entire country. Well, they have four guys that go to the NFL. You look at a top two group, lost their top cornerback and safety. A top 10 group from a year ago has a guy that goes number 27 overall. You have maybe one of the teams that was really set to have great success this upcoming season and their best player transfers to a school in the sec, right. So you look at secondaries, it's hard. And what we're doing today is difficult to project forward a bit, to assume growth at certain positions, to also make some assumptions on. Yeah, that group, yeah, there might be some turnover there, but they're pretty dang good. I think you'll understand the group I'm talking about when they come off the board at number six. Because we have to base things on what's coming back. We have to base on what coming back through the portal and who might have taken a huge step this spring. Because what we saw in 2025 tape shows more than just the box score. It shows execution windows, how they play together cohesively. So this list might surprise some people. Some programs that were household names last year are not on it, and some programs that are not really being talked about universally, they are. So I'm glad to be with you and I'm glad to continue to go through these rankings.
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We might agree, we might disagree. I'm just telling you from my perspective that this is kind of what we've gathered this off season. A lot of work goes into these shows, but they are always a labor of love before we get to the rankings and the honorable mentions. If you could just go and subscribe to the podcast, wherever you get the podcast, doesn't matter where. Subscribe to the podcast. Just check out Always College Football. Subscribe. Our episodes will be in your inbox before you even know it. Before I even know it. More than likely. You can also check us out on the ESPN college football YouTube page. So let's get into it. The top secondaries in college football for 26. Okay, before we get to the top 10, let's get to some names and. And some teams that narrowly missed. We'll start with Indiana, defending national champ. And we know Amari Farrell is a legitimate star, right? A lot of interceptions, a lot of production, a lot of people projecting him as a guy that could go as early as the second day of the draft. So decides to come back and if you look at this defense and Kurt Signetti's track record, Bryant Haynes's track record rebuilding through the portal, the Hoosiers could easily climb back into this conversation by October. But the quarterback room around Frell. You get a portal transfer for Penn State, you get a backup. That has never really been a guy. I mean, I am always optimistic about Kurt Signetti's portal evaluations, but pretty much everything's gone. However, Farrell alone gets them in the conversation. Almost into the top 10, not quite into the top 10. We'll go next to Fresno State. Simeon Harris came back. He was terrific within the Mountain west last season. Added a bunch of pounds of muscle this season, apparently. Sounds like he's bigger, he's stronger, he's more capable of being physically imposing. You get a bunch of starters back for Nick Benedetto on defense, he's the defensive coordinator. And if you look at the numbers last year Fresno was one of the top two in the country when it came to pass defense. They were holding opponents to about 150 yards a game. They did lose four starting defensive backs. Less than half the secondary snaps at corner are returning. But Fresno State is kind of living proof of what this episode is about. They, you would think looking back. All right, yeah, they're going to be pretty good. But when you look at them this year, honorable mention, first season in the Pac12, so a lot of of new surrounding their program. So they're close. I think they deserve honorable mention based on what was accomplished last year. But they don't quite crack the top 10. We'll go next to Iowa. Look, Zach Lutmer is tremendous, right? Defensive mvp, one of the more versatile defenders in the entire country. And what has Phil Parker done forever? He's always producing a top 15 pass defense it seems like. I mean every year he's in that mix. But they lose two starting safeties. You also have to account for their starting quarterback, T.J. hall and replacing them primarily with with a couple transfers, a couple of guys that are stepping up in competition. But you got to know that Phil Parker is going to get more out of those pieces than just about anyone expects. He always does. So you watch for Iowa. By the time the midseason point rolls around, I would anticipate that group playing top flight football. We'll go next to Mississippi State. I want you to remember the name Kelly Jones. He's got a lot of length, right? 6 foot 4. He also did a great job in defending top tier wide receivers that he saw last year. He actually led the country and coverage snaps per reception. So people weren't trying him an awful lot. There weren't a lot of people that were attempting throws in his direction. So when you watch him, you understand he doesn't just sit and wait. I mean he's got length. He, he can attack the catch point, he'll drive on routes. And when cornerbacks do throw his way, they usually regret it pretty quickly. There were some projections that he could come out and potentially become a high level NFL draft pick. But he decides to return and that's conviction. I think he's probably one of the more underrated individual defensive backs in the country. While the unit itself is not top 10, he is a top 10 player at his position and he's probably going to make a lot of money playing the sport and defending high level receivers for the foreseeable Future. At number 10, it's the Penn State Nittany Lions. Now, the Nittany lions, they lost A.J. harris to the transfer portal and he was widely assumed to be one of the better corners in the country last year. Didn't quite live up to it. But one Penn State has left is a little more interesting than what the national media is giving them credit for. You, you get JV and Collins, who's back. He's played and has been very consistent at the corner spot. You also get Darius Dixon back. He's a sophomore enrolled as a highly ranked recruit last last couple years. And coming out of spring practice, people who watch Dixon every day say that he has legitimate shutdown potential. And that's not just a stat line, right. That comes from watching a man that is physically refusing to let receivers get off the ball or off the line of scrimmage. At safety, you get the transfer in from Iowa State and Marcus Neal, who is a second team Big 12 all Big 12 selection a year ago and is kind of an experienced anchor in the back end. If you look at their coaching staff in general and their cornerbacks coach in particular, Terry Smith, he's one of the best in the country at his position and to stay with the program through a head coaching transition is difficult to do. But that retention matters, right? So they're in at number 10 because you got Collins Dixon. It's a legitimate starting duo and I think Neil gives them legitimate depth and prove it. Ability at safety, the question mark. Yeah, a little bit different with the head coaching staff and where they're at, but new coach, new culture, new everything. You got to kind of earn your way onto the list right now. But I think 10 is about right with what they have coming in at number nine is the Texas A and M Aggies. So Des Ricks is back and that kind of earns A and M the spot, right? If you look at Rick's, he's an all SEC candidate at corner entering year three of Mike Elko's defensive identity. And if you look at the Aggies last year, yes, a lot of them talk centered around their front seven, but the secondary did their part as well. And while maybe it isn't the most locked down secondary we've seen for the Aggies, they did a really good job and the scheme helps for sure. They, they were 16th last year in opponent passing yards and to be top 20 in a pass happy sec, it's not an accident. They go out, they add Ricky Gibson, you go out and add Tafik Bayard from Colorado to kind of fill some of the depth chart around Ricks. And if you look at the honest caveat, I mean A&M's own beat reporters came out of the spring saying the secondary depth was a little bit still unsettled, but they described it as really competitive. And while some people would say yeah, unsettled, that's concerning to me, highly competitive is exactly what you want to hear. That means no one has really separated themselves, but it might be as a result of the fact that all together are making each other better and the rest of the room is kind of proving it alongside Rick's who has a chance to be a lockdown guy on one side of the ball. Look A and M, they sit at number nine because an SEC program with legitimate lockdown corner and and I think third year continuity in Elko system is going to help so you earn that ranking. Right? But this is a little bit on the upside by with what Elko's proven over the last couple of years, we'll go next to number eight. That's the Michigan Wolverines. When you think about Michigan secondary entering into 26, it probably hasn't gotten enough attention. You get both starting corners back for the third consecutive year. Gyre Hill is an all Big Ten corner and entering in his final year in Ann Arbor, Zeke Berry is his running mate. Also third year as a starter. You had Smith Sode from Utah as a legitimate nickel presence. Guys got 24 career starts and was second team all big 12 last year. It's one of the better transfer portal acquisitions in the conference in this cycle. At safety you got Mason Curtis and Rod Moore who provide really experienced depth. And while it is a new defensive coordinator in J. Hill who was brought in from byu, he he built one of the better defenses in the country last year, especially in the red zone and a secondary that led the conference in interceptions last year. So his entire defensive system is built around creating havoc up front but also making sure those defensive backs are extremely sound. And Hill won't necessarily be asking these corners to survive in coverage. These corners might be asked to do a little bit more, but they're not going to give up big plays. They're going to be very sound and I like this group kind of across the board. So they check in at number eight and the experience is a big reason why at number seven it's the Oregon Ducks. Yes, the Ducks lost Dylan Thieman to the Chicago Bears in the first round. You lose Jaden Kennedy to the Kansas City Chiefs. Those are Two guys that can play at a really high level, right? Gone. And yet Oregon still sits at number seven. Here's why. Dan Lanning, he recruited Thieman out of the Portal from Purdue, made him into a first round pick in one season, and then immediately went back to the portal and got two more safeties to replace him. He goes out and gets Coy Parich from Minnesota, gets Carl Williams from Baylor. That's not a coincidence. That's a system. At corner, you got Brandon Finney, who's a sophomore that's entering into his second year as starter. And we know there's going to be a massive developmental leap in trajectory. And we know Dan Landing staff, they're built to accelerate that developmental leap, right? The argument for Oregon is not the names on the depth chart. It's a bit of the track record of the program and the way they assemble this talent together. I mean, go back and watch what Thienaman looked like in week one versus what he looked like in December, and that's what Landing staff does for defensive backs. It's a system that kind of earns the benefit of the doubt. That's why Oregon is in at number seven. At number six, it's the Ohio State Buckeyes. And they lost a lot, right? To lose Caleb Downs as the number 11 overall pick. I mean, guy was a two time unanimous all American. The best safety in college football for the last two years. He's gone. And he, he did more than just play safety for Ohio State last year. He was so good, so instinctive, such an amazing player for the Buckeyes the last two seasons. You also lose Davidson, Igbosan, who went in the second round to the Buffalo Bills, and Lorenzo Style. So you lose three of the five primary starters in the defensive backfield. And the number that you need to understand before I tell you why Ohio state is number six is because they gave up 130 passing yards a game last year. They were number one in the country by a decent margin. The number two unit in the country allowed 153. So Ohio State didn't just lead the country in past defense, they lapped the field. And yet there's still six on the list. Because when you lose Caleb Downs and Davison Igbos and Lorenzo Styles in the same off season, it doesn't matter necessarily that you were number one. What matters is kind of more what you have coming back. And what Ohio State has coming back is still worthy of being top six, which is remarkable because Ohio State secondary infrastructure is a separate thing from Ohio State's individual players. I mean you have Ryan Day, you got Tim Walton, you got scheme continuity through multiple successful seasons and and most multiple eyes on the defensive side of the ball. So you look at what they have coming back, you got Jalen McLean coming back, you got Jermaine Matthews coming back. Those two guys at safety and at corner respectively, proven starters in the system. You go out and add an Earl Little from Florida State, you add a Terry More from Duke, players who had starting level production elsewhere and chose Ohio State because of what it could do for their draft stock moving forward and and you add in Devin Sanchez who had a spring that scouts are clearly excited about. The Buckeyes reload. They do not rebuild. And that's why even with the absences of top tier players from a year ago, Ohio State starts out the 26 season as our top six secondary if
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at number five, it's the LSU Tigers. Lane Kiffin walks into Baton Rouge and immediately does what Lane Kiffin does. You go out and you get the best possible player available. So he goes out and gets Ty Benefield at Boise State, where he was the Mountain west defensive player of the year, had triple digit tackles, had eight and a half tackles for a loss, and was a three year starter with 33 or 33 career starts. I mean, then he decides, hey, I'm going to lsu. Could have gone to the NFL, could have gone to Oregon. Everyone was calling, everyone was interested and he chose lsu. And the pitch that LSU made is the same pitch that they made to every elite defensive back who's walked through the door in Baton Rouge the last few years. Come here, play for Bake Baker, Blake Baker. A lot of people believe that this is dbu. However you feel about it is is. It's in the eye of the beholder. But they certainly have an argument to be make to be made of that. I mean, look at what the system did for Monsoon Delaine last year. Monsoon Delaine transfers in from Virginia Tech, had three years of starting experience and a really quality reputation. I mean, he was physical, he was sticky in coverage. Well, he leaves LSU as the number six pick in the draft, goes to the Kansas City Chiefs, first corner off the board. Well, Benefield, could he get a comparable developmental Runway? Plays a slightly different position, but still you got to feel optimistic about his presence in the back end of the defense. You also look at the cornerback spot. DJ Pickett and PJ Woodland both return. You also get a couple pieces back in the secondary and demarcus Cooley and deshawn Spears. These guys are back at safety. You also get Fahim Delane. Yes, that's Mansoor's younger brother. He transfers in from Ohio State. This is a room with immediate production plus massive developmental upside. That's why LSU checks in as our number five defensive back unit in college football. At number four, it's the Georgia Bulldogs. You got KJ Bolton, good starting point, right? You got a guy that is terrific as a sophomore in 2025, he was second on Georgia's defense last year in tackles. As a sophomore he also had a couple picks. One against Arch Manning, one against Tennessee and. And he earned second team all SEC honors as a result. He also made some impacts on special teams as well. Look, he's a 20 year old guy entering into his junior year. One of the better defensive backs in the entire country. Kirby Smart also kept Ellis Robinson and Demela Jones at corner. Those are two proven starters who have kind of held their own against arguably the toughest conference as it relates to wide receivers in college football. And then Smart goes into the portal and he doesn't do this a ton of he adds Braylon Conley from sc. He has Gentry Williams from Oklahoma at corner. That's portal depth at safety as well. So the question for Georgia is that the second safety spot opposite bold. That competition's not settled just yet. Coming out of spring, you got Rayshawn Dinkins, Kyron Jones, Jamar Lee Riddle. One of those guys has to step up. And if that happens in fall camp, then Georgia has a legitimate argument to be in the top two on this list potentially. But right now they land at number four. At number three, it's the Texas Tech Red Raiders. We'll start with kind of just the Big 12 in general. And let's talk quickly about what Bryce Pollock did in 2025 and see if it makes sense to you because the national media is kind of sleeping on this. He had five picks. He led the Big 12. He was fourth in the country. He had seven PBUs, a bunch of tackles, a bunch of tackles for loss. He was a first team all big 12 selection. And if you watch him, you know, some of those interceptions, you would think, well, maybe the pressure got to him or maybe it was a bad decision because David Bailey was coming off the edge. He was well positioned in a bunch of different situations to go steal the football and get hands on the football. Quality route reader. And he can certainly diagnose what's coming before the snap. By the time the quarterbacks decide to throw. Well, Pollock's already decided where the ball is going. And on a team that won their first Big 12 championship in program history last year, to announce that he was coming back was significant. He said that the Texas Tech fan base had just watched their team accelerate beyond what they've ever done before. Say, hey, I'm coming back. We have unfinished business. And I think that's big. He's also not alone. You got John Curry back at nickel. You got Amir Boyd, who's back opposite Pollock at corner. You get Brennan Jordan, who's back at safety. Texas Tech returns three of their top four defensive backs on the best secondary in the Big 12. In a league with games and quality competition at quarterback and Joey McGuire's defense. They're kind of built around the defensive secondary, but it will be aided naturally by the presence that they have along the defensive line. We've already talked about the quality of the defensive line that you're going to get from Texas Tech, the amount of pass rush you're going to get from Texas Tech. Guess who's going to benefit from that? Their defensive backs. They're not going to cover as long as some of the other teams that we've talked about in the past. So they're naturally going to play at a pretty high level with returning production, with continuity. I like Texas Tech being locked in at number three. At number two is the Alabama Crimson Tide. And let me say this plainly right, Alabama returns all five starters in their secondary. Both safeties, both corners, the nickel. That doesn't happen. Not in this era. Not, not in the sec. Not at a program that consistently sends players into the first, second, third round almost every single spring. But it happened because Kane Wommack sat down with Keon Sab and Bray Hubbard back in January, made the case that another year in Tuscaloosa was worth more than the draft money that was potentially waiting for them. Couple months down the road and they agreed. If you look at Hubbard last year, remarkably instinctive player. He had four picks. He also forced three fumbles, had a bunch of past breakups. He was a first team all SEC selection and actually garnered second team All American honors. And he was arguably one of the best players on one of the top defensive units against the pass in the SEC decides to come back is an opportunistic group across the board. You might look at the numbers, you might look at the pass yards given up. Yeah, there's some pass yards given up, but look at how often these defensive backs got hands on the football. Look at how Often these defensive backs change the game. Keon Sab decides to come back. Zabian Brown decides to come back. The guy had two pick sixes in 2025, including a 99 yarder against Tennessee at the end of the half that became one of the signature defensive plays of the college football season. He's back at corner. So is Dijon Lee, who is coming into his own as a possible blue chip lockdown guy here in the very near future. Red Morgan's back as well. And if you listen to Kane Womack and what he told reporters this spring, he feels that they are in a really good place in the back end entering the summer. As a man who knows that last year's defense gave up 19 points a game, which is pretty good, returns a lot of pieces in the secondary and won't start emphasizing the word violence in practice. And I think him saying things are pretty good, I think he feels pretty good about that group in general. That's a frightening thought for those that have to go against the secondary on a week in, week out basis. The only thing standing between Alabama and number one on this list is arguably the best corner in college football playing for the team that is ranked just in front of them. But Alabama very comfortably sitting on the number two line. At number one, it is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. There is a corner in south bend who is 21 years old and is already in the conversation to be one of the top picks of the 27 NFL Draft. He's back for his junior year and if you look at what Leonard Moore did as a three star recruit or some publications had him as a four star recruit out of Texas, this guy was not universally regarded as oh yeah, this will be the top corner in the sport a couple years. Well, his freshman year, Benjamin Morrison gets hurt, goes down with a hip injury, in comes Leonard Moore and he just goes on to lead Notre Dame in past breakups. He goes on to become a freshman All American, then in his sophomore year was one of the most dominant defensive players in the sport, gets five picks tied for seventh nationally. A bunch of PBUs had the pick six against Syracuse. The guy does not let wide receivers breathe. As far as separation against him on a play to play basis, if you can separate and get open against him, the quarterback better get it out quickly because if you're open it won't be for long because he closes faster than just about anyone in the sport. Now I'll be straight with you. Notre Dame's unit as a whole last year, given the passing yards per game given up was 56th. You would think, well, hang on, that that's not a top 10 unit by the numbers. But what that number actually tells you is that the safety room was younger, the depth was slightly thinner. Well, if you look at this upcoming season, all three safeties are back. You have really experienced corners, you have quality depth in the portal and you have a lockdown guy. This is not the same unit as a year ago. You also take into account the circumstances that Notre Dame was playing against on a week to week basis. They had massive leads in multiple games, so it became a throw a thon against them every single time. The other team got in a three touchdown deficit, they had to throw over the yard. So the numbers can be a little bit misleading. So this is a 2026 unit that is built around the best corner in the sport. And that's a different conversation. But here's the thing about Leonard Moore that the numbers do not fully capture. He plays bigger than what you realize. Watch the way he mirrors routes. Watch the way he competes at the catch point and not waiting for the ball to arrive, but contesting every throw as if when you try it against me, it's almost personal. Watch the way he processes the formation, the motion, the way he diagnoses quarterback's eyes simultaneously and then racks reacts before the ball comes out. That's not a stat, right? This is just football at a level that most players his age have not reached yet. He's a unanimous all American as a result. He's a Jim Thorpe award finalist, he was a Bronco Nagursky trophy finalist. And Notre Dame finished number one in the country in interceptions as a team with more kind of anchoring the secondary. And him being back for his junior year is massive. And in a Marcus Freeman defense, his fifth year as a head coach. This is year two under defensive coordinator Chris Ash. The team that already has aid on Shuler and Tate Johnson, Luke Talich returning at safety. All them being back, DJ McKinney from Colorado, Jaden Sanders from Michigan adding great depth at corner. Notre Dame has six defensive backs with starting level experience before fall camp even opens. And there is no other program in the country that can say that. That's why there is not currently an argument that holds up against this unit. Notre Dame as of this moment is number one in the back end.
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Foreign let's get into some hot takes here, shall we? Let's start with hot take number one. Alabama will finish the 2026 season as statistically the number one past defense in the SEC. They were number nine in the country last year, a top 10 nationally ranked unit with all five starters returning. That's not necessarily like a massive prediction. That's a scheduling problem. Now I know when you look at what Notre Dame has and what Georgia has and all these other great secondaries that are scattered throughout the country. But Alabama secondary? Very complete unit because it has really quality talent at every single position, plus multiple years of chemistry between players that have started together. They're not necessarily the most talented unit, but you can make the case that they work together better than just about anybody in the country and in a 15 game season being complete might beat overall talent. So I think statistically Alabama is going to be in a really good spot at season's end. Hot take number two Kelly Jones from Mississippi State is going to be on the short list. When people find out about this young man, they're going to be amazed. He's going to be on the short list for the Jim Thorpe Award as one of the better corners in college football that no one's really talking about on a team that no one's really talking about. And that's going to change the Moment. Mississippi State upsets an SEC opponent this year because it's going to happen. Jones is great last year in his coverage. His grade in against passing plays was terrific. They didn't get tried very often and not a lot of corners get tried as as little as Jones does. So he decides to come back even though there were some saying that he was going to drafted really, really early. He says he's going to go and make this Mississippi State secondary one of the surprise units of the 26 season. So I expect him to live up to the billing. Hot take number three. Georgia could be number one on this list by December. The answer around the second safety spot. We'll get that in fall camp. But we already know that KJ Bolden takes a step from being all SEC to potentially a consensus all American, maybe the best safety in the country. We know that Ellis, Robinson, DeMille, Jones, they have a chance to be locked down at the cornerback spot. And that Kirby Smart, who's never gone back to back in the playoff and lost both those games, like, you know, this group has a chip on their shoulder and we know this defense is going to be built around the secondary the same way it has been for a very long time. I mean, Kirby Smart at his core, he's a secondary coach, former safety. This group's going to be big time by the end of the year. Hot take number four. I think if you look at Bryce Pollock for Texas Tech, he's a guy that's going to do a lot of big things this year. Look, you got the scheme, you got the ball skills, you got another year of experience and kind of something to prove on a very, very big stage. And, and look, a lot of people are paying attention to Texas Tech, right? A lot of people now are aware that Texas Tech has really quality defenders. And you take into account the pass rush help that he's going to get, he's going to get hands on the football. He might be one of the more underrated defensive backs in the Big 12. Well, that'll change coming up this year because everyone is now aware of him. And then hot take number five. I bet Iowa's in this conversation by October 1st. I mean, Phil Parker has been doing this longer than most football coordinators been alive, right? We know they have a legitimate star in Lutmer who can play a bunch of different positions. Very versatile defender. They know a portal editions who are going to look different in a Parker system than they did at the previous spots. That's just what Parker does. He takes talent that looked maybe a little ordinary elsewhere and makes it look exceptional in Iowa City. So they're not on this list today, but they will be by season's end. And that is it. That's the full top 10. So let me run through it one more time. At number 10, it's Penn State. At number nine, it's Texas A&M. At number eight, it's Michigan. At number seven, it's Oregon. At number six, it's Ohio State. And the top five is as follows, LSU at five, Georgia at four, Texas Tech at three, Alabama at two, and Notre Dame at number one with honorable mentions, Indiana, Fresno, Iowa, Mississippi State. So if you've been watching from the beginning of this ranking series, the quarterbacks, the receivers, the defensive lines, now the defensive backs, you know how this works by now, we don't guess necessarily. We don't necessarily verify. We try. We try to research. We try to watch the tape. We try to jump to conclusions. We argue. And then we have to commit and we are totally open to acknowledging when we might have overlooked somebody. There's a lot of teams. There's 138 teams that play FBS football. It is hard to watch everybody. And there are some teams that slip through the cracks. And there are some times, like we did with Miami's defensive line, we have to go back to the drawing board and say, you know what? Just because they might not be as good as last year doesn't mean they're not still potentially a top 10 unit. And we've made that adjustment on the show. Miami now is one of our top 10 defensive lines, so we will absolutely do that. But as of this moment, is where we're at with the best defensive back units in college football entering this season, the ones that could change games, the ones that, that could swing college football playoff races, and the ones that every offensive coordinator and every quarterback in the country, they kind of have circled on their schedule and they're saying, yep, we better be ready for that week when we are playing against some of these teams. So we look forward to continuing our conversation with you. We will do more ranking shows, including top 10 weapons, which are basically wide receiver units, plus tight ends. We'll do a bunch. We've done linebackers and all these great things. So we've had a lot of fun doing it. We will continue to do it here over the next few weeks. As always, we remind you to go ahead and subscribe to the podcast. Wherever you get the podcast, you can subscribe to the ESPN College Football YouTube page. You can also go and follow these shows social media account at all Always cfb. So for all of us here at Always College Football, from Mark, Jake, Jack, the other Jack, I'm Greg. We hope you have an amazing day and remember, it's Always College Football. Hey, guys, it's Greg McElroy. Thanks for watching Always College Football. Make sure you like, rate and subscribe to ESPN's YouTube channel and wherever you listen to your podcasts.
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