Top 5 Candidates for SEC Defensive Player of the Year in 2015

Say what you will about Will Muschamp and the mediocre offenses he coached at Florida, but the Gators consistently had one of the best defenses in the SEC. Vernon Hargreaves gives us reason to believe that Florida will continue that trend this season.

Hargreaves was named a second team All-American in 2014 after finishing the year with 50 tackles, 13 pass breakups, and three interceptions. Jim McElwain will rely on him to lead Florida's defense, which will likely result in even better numbers. Hargreaves could become the first secondary player since 2011 to win the SEC Defensive Player of the Year award.

Texas A&M is considered an "all offense, no defense" team for a reason. The Aggies have ranked 58th, 111th, and 104th in total defense during the Kevin Sumlin era. That would be a cause for concern for most coaches, but most coaches do not have a player like Myles Garrett.

Myles Garrett finished his freshman campaign with 14 tackles for loss, 11.5 sacks, and 10 quarterback hurries. The only SEC player that had more sacks than Garrett was Missouri's Shane Ray, who eventually was named SEC DPOY. New defensive coordinator John Chavis will likely put Garrett in a position to be even better. Is it too early to say that we may already be looking at the next Jadeveon Clowney?

Reggie Ragland was not Alabama's top linebacker going into the 2014 season. That title belonged to Trey Depriest. However, Depriest was suspended for the first game of the season due to an NCAA violation, and Ragland responded accordingly by establishing himself as the Tide's top linebacker.

Ragland finished the 2014 season with 93 tackles and was named first-team All-SEC. He turned down the opportunity to enter the NFL Draft so that he could be a leader in Nick Saban's defense. It is a high pressure job, but it worked out pretty well for CJ Mosley, Dont'a Hightower, and Rolando McClain, who all went on to become first round draft picks.

Tennessee did not have a single returning starter on the defensive line heading into the 2014 season, so Butch Jones had to rely on younger players to get the job done in the trenches. Fortunately for Jones, true freshman Derek Barnett was out to prove that age is just a number.

Barnett's statline for his freshman season included 72 tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks, and eight quarterback hurries. He is the only true freshman over the last 10 seasons to finish in the top three of the SEC in tackles for loss. Unlike A&M's Myles Garrett, Barnett was not hyped up to be among the SEC's elite, but he quickly proved that he deserves to be mentioned among college football's elite players.

Georgia was a top-three defense in the SEC in each of Mark Richt's first four seasons as head coach. Since then, the Bulldogs have only finished in the top three once (2007). Senior linebacker Jordan Jenkins will be one of the key players in helping Richt end that dry spell.

Jenkins has been a consistent contributor for Georgia since arriving on campus and has gotten better each year. Last season, he finished with 70 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, five sacks, and an SEC-leading 21 quarterback hurries. The Bulldogs are never short on big, physical outside linebackers, and Jenkins is no exception. He cannot single handedly put Richt's defense back on top, but he will certainly lead the effort.