McElroy names SEC defenses to watch in 2025

Always College Football host, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy generates some of the best takes in the sport each offseason.

While many analysts and social media influencers like to use engagement bait methods, McElroy oftentimes takes a statistical approach as to which teams to watch out for. While he name dropped South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Ole Miss as defenses that standout to him, Texas remains the most star-studded unit in the SEC.

Texas Longhorns

“They bring back some really high-level players,” McElroy said. “Probably the most star-studded defense in the SEC next year. This is a really good defense when it comes to household names. But there’s also a bunch of pieces that they lost.”

Texas gave up just 283 yards of total offense per game last season and bring back Trey Moore, Colin Simmons, Anthony Hill and many others.

“So I think Texas might have the highest ceiling but there’s also some unknowns,” McElroy said.

Alabama Crimson Tide

Obviously, the Aggies lost a ton of production on the defensive line in Shemar Stewart, Nic Scourton and Shemar Turner. But, one unit that played a lot of underclassmen was Kalen DeBoer at Alabama.

Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack’s defense was raided of talent following the retirement of coaching icon Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide finished No. 21 in total defense allowing 320 yards per game No. 10 in scoring at just over 17 points in 13 games.

“They lost two really high-level contributors off of last year’s defense,” McElroy said. “Pretty much everybody else is back. The biggest question with Alabama is how deep are they?”

Alabama added quality defenders such as Colorado transfer linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green, Utah transfer DB Cam Calhoun and Florida DT transfer Kelby Collins. All three additions are potential starters to strengthen each level of its defense.

“All that being said, it will be very interesting to see how Alabama does because I like the coaching continuity, I like the personnel additions they made defensively. And I like that a lot of their best players last year were freshmen and sophomores … I expect a pretty big bump. So Alabama is the wildcard when it comes to the best defense in the SEC next year.”