• Auburn: LHP Cory Luckie, 5-2, 6.64 ERA, 39.1 IP, 35 K, 11 BB
• Arkansas: LHP Drew Smyly, 6-0, 2.22 ERA, 56.2 IP, 62 K, 23 BB

• Auburn: TBA
• Arkansas: LHP Randall Fant, 3-0, 2.60 ERA, 27.2 IP, 23 K, 9 BB
  

• Auburn: LHP Grant Dayton, 4-2, 5.14 ERA, 56.0 IP, 37 K, 13 BB
  
• Arkansas: RHP Brett Eibner, 3-3, 4.04 ERA, 49.0 IP, 45 K, 12 BB

• DE Robert Hill, 6-1, 239, Jr.
• DL Joe Jones, 5-11, 308, rFr.

"(Antonio Coleman) had at least two sacks during one scrimmage that was dominated by the defensive line and should be a force next year if he can avoid the minor bumps and bruises that limited him last season."

True to form, Coleman suffered some injuries that limited his production during the first half of the season. But the senior was a terror the second half, finishing with 10 sacks and 16.5 tackles for a loss. He led the SEC in both categories. But he's gone now, along with defensive tackle Jake Ricks, meaning Auburn will need some new faces to step up on the line. The good news is that there are plenty of candidates, with a solid blend of experience and youth. The bad news is that none of the players has as much of an upside as Coleman, who was a standout performer for most of his career. The Tigers might be deeper on the line this year, but they'll have to account for losing their star.

If anyone is going to step into AC's place, it's another AC — senior Antoine Carter. Carter showed what he was capable of near the end of last season once he was fully recovered from offseason knee surgery. He became the bookend pass rusher Auburn needed to pair with Coleman to keep opposing quarterbacks wary at all times. The question is this: was Carter's success tied to all the attention Coleman was getting on the other side? In addition to Carter and Goggans, who mans the other end position, Auburn has developed some young talent. Ford and Eguae are blossoming players, perhaps not quite ready for a primetime role, but ready to contribute nonetheless. In the middle, Blanc is primed for a big season after quietly registering 6.5 TFLs and 3.5 sacks last year. But Fairley has the biggest potential. The former junior college transfer has worked on consistency this offseason, trying to get his assignment grades to match his production grades. If he gets better at lining up in the right place and plugging the right hole on a more consistent basis, the Tigers could have a strong defensive front.

It remains to be seen if anybody in this group can consistently produce, especially at stopping the run, where Auburn was abysmal last season (156.1 yards allowed per game ranked 10th in the SEC). Carter has shown it in spurts. Goggans started 18 games before some minor injuries and poor production led to Carter replacing him int the starting lineup. Fairley and Blanc have done OK, but there are questions about the backups. Clayton has never stayed healthy (including this spring). Eguae and Ford are pretty ripe. Lykes has been quiet his entire career. And you can get a pretty good sense of what the coaches think about Travis after burning his redshirt to fair catch a short kickoff last year. Defensive line coach Tracy Rocker will have to develop that second line if he plans on wholesale substitutions like he did during the latter part of last season.

Defensive line is usually a difficult place to come in and play right away, but Auburn has some candidates in its signing class. Whitaker and Carter are both four-star players at tackle, where there's not a line of superstars ahead of them. And Whitaker is big enough (295 pounds) that size won't be a detriment to getting on the field. One the ends, Bonomolo, a junior college transfer, should be ahead of the game in terms of game-readiness, having played two seasons (or one and a half if you take into account his shoulder injury) at Fullerton (Calif.) Community College. Lemonier, a signing day addition who announced on ESPN, is highly-rated but needs to add some size (223 pounds). Auburn planned to redshirt Ford, who was in similar spot last year, but played him in third-down situations when injuries forced the coaching staff's hand. Perhaps a similar role is in the talented Lemonier's future. Sanders, meanwhile, already got a jump on learning the system by enrolling in January.

Eguae. Coaches and teammates had great things to say about him end during two-a-days last August, calling him one of the likeliest freshman candidates to get on the field. But doctors discovered a stress fracture in his foot one the eve of the season. He thought about playing the second half of the year but decided to redshirt. It might be to Auburn's benefit. Eguae thinks the year off helped his development, able to add some size and gain a little more knowledge about the game before being thrown into the fire. He doesn't appear to care what his role is, even if it's as a backup. "Whoever is in front of me," he said, "I don't want no decrease of play to happen between me and the guy that's in front of me."

There seem to be pretty defined lines of who is a starter and a reserve on the line this year. If I had to pick a battle, I'd say watch one of the end positions. Goggans didn't exactly dominate last year, losing his starting job halfway through the season (although that was to an up-and-coming Carter). Eguae might not be there yet, but if he's as talented as the coaches are saying, he should start to make strides throughout the season and push for more playing time.

"The thing we need is leadership. That’s probably the most important thing is getting those guys up front to try and lead." — Rocker, wondering who is going to step up in Coleman's place.

25 — Rushing touchdowns allowed by Auburn last season, by far the most in the SEC. Alabama, by comparison, allowed only five.

While there is no star the caliber of Coleman, Auburn has some nice pieces here. Rocker was fond of rotating in wholesale substitutions last year, like it was a hockey line. He's got something to work with this year, with Carter, Goggans, Blanc and Fairley on the first line and Ford, Eguae, Fairley and Lykes on the second, with the possibility of some youngsters mixing in right away. The biggest thing to look at is how this group will stop the run. The Tigers can't go through another year where teams run rampant on them — especially in the SEC.

• MLB Josh Bynes, 6-2, 239, Sr.
• OLB Craig Stevens, 6-3, 224, Sr.
• S/OLB Daren Bates, 5-11, 202, So.

• LB Chase Erickson, 6-0, 203, rFr.
• LB Joey Caldwell, 6-1, 226, So.
• LB Watson Downs, 6-0, 213, So.
• LB Patrick Butler, 6-0, 244, Sr.

The spring did little to change the fact that Bynes and Stevens are the alpha dogs of the defense. There aren't two players on the defense that defensive coordinator Ted Roof praises more than those two, and from all accounts, they had a good spring. But that was a given. Where Auburn appears to have made strides is in cross training the linebackers at different positions to create a situation where the next best player, regardless of position, gets on the field in an injury situation. Stevens, a strong-side linebacker last year, worked on the weak-side this spring. Evans worked all over. Curry, a middle linebacker in high school, moved to the outside. And Freeman, a starter on the outside last year, worked behind Bynes in the middle.

While Roof was pleased with the progress of the linebackers not named Bynes or Stevens, he didn't give any of them the blessing of being the "third linebacker." Given numerous opportunities, Roof continued to say that plenty of work needed to be done, especially by Freeman, whose inconsistent play seems to mystify coaches. The most disappointing part of the spring might have been the injury situation. While Gaston lost out on a chance to advance his game, the bigger missed opportunity was with Bates, who played safety last year but will play more of a hybrid linebacker role this season in an effort to get the Tigers faster on defense. Auburn coaches made the move in the offseason, but Bates wasn't able to participate because of shoulder surgery. He sat in on linebacker meetings and has learned the playbook, but transitioning that to the field is always a concern. When the team resumes practice, Bates will only have two-a-days to get himself comfortable in his new situation. (Then again, that's all he needed last year at safety, and that worked out pretty well.)

Auburn certainly reinforced its ranks. After taking only two high school linebackers in 2009, the Tigers signed four in February, with Curry enrolling early to participate in spring drills. The others look like they could compete for playing time if things play out correctly. Holland and Owens are both four-star recruits who look like they have the size (228, 225 pounds, respectively) to step in right away. Holland was the No. 10 player in Alabama. Owens was No. 4. White might take a little bit longer, but Auburn can at least feel a little more comfortable about its future once Bynes and Stevens are gone.

I said it last year, I'll say it again: Eltoro. He showed glimpses of what he could do last year, like his 7-tackle, 2-TFL, 1-sack performance at LSU. Of course, that came after he did next to nothing or didn't dress the previous four weeks. Such is the Eltoro dilemma. The key, as mentioned before, is consistency. Auburn doesn't need him to be Superman on every play. What it does need is for him to step up into the right gap and stop a ballcarrier when it's his turn. That was a problem last year, with Freeman roaming out of position and other teams running through the spot he vacated. But the potential is still there. And while he's still here, there's a chance he could tap into it.

Obviously it's the outside linebacker spot not filled by Stevens. I projected at the top of this post that Bates would be a starter, based on the fact that I can't imagine the coaching staff moving a freshman All-SEC performer to a new position and not playing him. But not every situation is going to be ideal for Bates. He's still not that big for a linebacker, and although he likes to throw his helmet in the pile, a more traditional outside 'backer will probably still have a role on this defense. Between Freeman, Evans, Gaston, Curry and the incoming Holland and Owens, Auburn, at the very least, has plenty of options.

"We're making progress in that area. We're rolling a lot of guys through there ... to have our system interchange enough where we can put the next best guy in there and not get bogged down by just pigeonholing guys at this position, but to be able to put the best linebacker in there. But as far as anybody jumping out at this point, the answer is no." — Roof, on the third linebacker spot

89 — tackles made last year by linebackers not named Bynes and Stevens. Bynes led the team with 104 stops. Stevens, who was second, had 95.

Bynes and Stevens are All-SEC candidates, so Auburn is going to be solid in this group regardless of how the others fare. But Bates is going to be the key. If he can successfully transition to linebacker -- and with the way he was willing to be a physical safety last year, there's no reason to think he won't -- that's a solid group. The backups have plenty of question marks, but there is more promise in that group this year than last. And, most important, there are plenty more bodies, giving the coaching staff at least a little flexibility. Who knows? Bynes and Stevens might actually come off the field for a few snaps this year.

"I guess it's a little something they're doing to make a different influence on the kids in a sense. It shows camaraderie on their part, trying to show prospects that they're on a united front together and they're targeting some of the better kids in Georgia and Alabama. They weren't here long. They just kind of eye-balled the kids, introduced themselves and kind of talked as coaches amongst one another, just giving out information about their home life and grades and test scores and football ability. Things of that sort."

• CB Rodney Cofield, 5-7, 156, rFr.
• DB Tyler Mickens, 5-10, 184, rFr.
• DB Woody Parramore, 5-8, 178, Sr.
• DB Blake Poole, 6-0, 188, rFr.
• DB Dorian Rhodes, 5-11, 182, rFr.

Riiiiiiiiiight. This group took more blows than any other last year, proving that you can never have enough depth in college football. It started when McNeil broke his leg last spring, continued when Savage injured his Achilles' in the summer and concluded when Etheridge suffered a scary neck injury that briefly left him motionless on the field against Ole Miss. Throughout it all, Auburn did a patchwork job. Daren Bates stepped in and did more than anyone ever imagined for the least-touted member of the 2010 class, starting every game at safety and earning Freshman All-SEC honors. After Etherdige's injury Washington got a crash course at safety and moved there for Auburn's final three games. The team's lack of depth in the secondary was exposed against pass-happy Northwestern in the Outback Bowl, when a motley crew of Bell, Cole and Hood played major roles. But this year there appears to at least be more bodies -- even with Bates moving to a hybrid DB/LB position -- assuming the trio of McNeil, Savage and Etheridge return to their pre-injury forms. But that's a big assumption.

Washington has been able to focus on one position this spring -- corner -- and learn all the ins and outs of it, a major advantage for someone who bounced around last year. He started showing his cornerback chops last season right before Auburn needed him at safety. If he can seamlessly return to corner, it'll lessen the blow of losing McFadden. Meanwhile, Means, a walk-on, drew rave reviews from the coaches for his willingness to make plays and knack for forcing turnovers. Coaches made him sound like the second coming of Bates, provided he continues to progress this summer, meaning playing time on the regular defense isn't out of the question. While Thorpe had a quiet spring, missing the A-Day scrimmage with what looked like a non-serious wrist injury, Bell and Gulley-Morgan got valuable reps. Bell capped an erratic year by intercepting two passes in the Outback Bowl. Gulley-Morgan made the full-time switch to defense at the end of the year. Both need as many looks as they can get to be viable options as backups.

It's still hard to tell just how the injured players will return to the fold. Etheridge didn't participate in spring drills and while coaches seem to be counting on him to return, one can't forget how major of a neck injury he suffered last season. Those kind of injuries can affect someone in many ways and it's not clear if he'll be the same player upon his return. Savage didn't participate in contact this spring and, after missing the last two years because of injuries, you have to wonder how sharp he'll be once he gets back on the field in a full capacity. And McNeil, who found praise from the coaches hard to come by, still showed a slight limp on the leg he broke last spring in the latter part of practices. Coaches brushed it off as a fatigue matter, something that will work itself out once he's fully recovered. But these are the same coaches who were pleased with the news last spring that McNeil suffered a "clean break" of his leg, fully expecting him to be back for last season. We saw how that worked out. That's a lot of question marks for Auburn's top-three safeties.

As usual, Auburn signed a class of lesser-known defensive backs, none of which rate higher than a three on the ol' star system. It's worked out great in the past, though. Bates was a two-star, while Thorpe, Etheridge, McFadden, Jerraud Powers and Savage were all three-stars. So Auburn has a pretty good track record there. The important part is that all the signees get into school. Last year's class was hurt by players not qualifying. Izauea Lanier, Taikwon Paige and Reggie Taylor all went the JUCO route, leaving Auburn with little depth. Mincy and McNeal are the top players in the DB class, with White, Smith and Davis being under-the-radar prospects. But those are the kind of players who have succeeded at Auburn. Whatever the case, it doesn't appear they will be counted on to contribute right away other than on special teams.

Finally able to focus on one position, Washington could bust out this year. He showed signs of what he could do at cornerback, flashing his coverage skills as a nickelback in certain situations. He also showed no fear of throwing his helmet into the fray as a tackler while at safety. Add in a comfort factor after transitioning from junior college to Division I last year and Washington definitely could make a leap.

The starting safety spots will be interesting. I assume they are Etheridge and Savage's to lose at this point. Those two, despite being limited this spring, are the most experienced of the group. And experience is a major advantage at safety, which has a major role in getting the defense set up on a play-by-play basis. McNeil, if he's healthy, could challenge for playing time. He did, after all, start as a sophomore, finishing second on the team with 65 tackles. An even more intriguing challenger, however, is Means. If his spring performance was not a mirage, he might be in the mix. Probably not as a starter (going from walk-on to starter is quite the jump) but certainly as someone who could get reps and ease the burden of Etheridge and Savage from playing every snap.

"At some places walk-ons think that there's too many roadblocks to get to where they need to be, but I think he provides hope for a lot of kids. If you just do what you're supposed to do, work hard and ... when you have the opportunity, you can perform instead of going out there and laying an egg. And he's done that and I certainly hope that that's provided hope to a lot of other guys that may have started in his situation, because he's taken full advantage of his opportunity." — defensive coordinator Ted Roof on Means.

3 — interceptions last year by Bell, most of the returning members of the secondary. Two came in the Outback Bowl.

There are a lot of "ifs" in the secondary. Auburn will be solid IF Washington makes a smooth transition back to corner, IF Thorpe becomes less prone to giving up the deep ball, IF Etheridge, Savage and McNeil return close to pre-injury form, IF Means is for real. Still, the Tigers would probably rather have a multitude of question marks than go into this season with the patched-together group it had in the Outback Bowl. IF those things above happen, the secondary could be one of the strengths of the defense.

• Kentucky: LHP Logan Darnell, 3-2, 4.77 ERA, 54.2 IP, 41 K, 19 BB, .307 BAA
• Auburn: LHP Cory Luckie, 4-2, 6.68 ERA, 33.2 IP, 30 K, 11 BB, .292 BAA

• Kentucky: LHP Taylor Rogers, 4-4, 4.92 ERA, 56.2 IP, 52 K, 25 BB, .280 BAA
• Auburn: TBA

• Kentucky: TBA
• Auburn: LHP Grant Dayton, 4-2, 4.89 ERA, 49.2 IP, 31 K, 12 BB, .286 BAA