Quote Originally Posted by DistrictDawg92 View Post
I've seen multiple people mention that Diaz has said that this year's defense will be the best he has EVER had. I feel like a statement like this, especially from a coach, is best left unsaid unless you are 100% confident in the statement. With Manny's best defense + a top 3 SEC offense lead by a 5th year Senior heisman candidate QB, I don't think anyone, including us as fans, really knows what's about to take the field on the night of Septemeber 12th. As much as we all hated 1A/1B last year, it might be the leading factor to our success this year, outside of the obvious ones, like Dak and Bear. And honestly I'm starting to believe that 1A/1B wasn't Collins, but rather Mullen recognizing that we would be losing so much last year and knew that returning experience on the defense would be key this year. I guarantee 9 out of 10 college football experts would tell you that we are one of the top 3 youngest/inexperienced teams in the SEC, when in reality, our whole 2 deep is upperclassmen. If this isn't the year, I don't know what is.
I think we all need to pump the brakes a little bit. There's good reason for optimism, but we did lose defensive talent that will be difficult to replace. All those 1Bs you're referring to were a noticeable dropoff in talent and production from the 1As (for the most part). Those guys have to step up their game this year. You also never know about injuries.

Let's be excited and be optimistic, but we have to be real, too. We have a chance to be very good, but nothing is etched in stone, particularly due to the 1A/1B stuff. Preston, B-Mac, and Matt Wells are leaving some very big holes to fill.

I would expect that Diaz didn't say this, at least not in this context. He would be crazy as a coach to say something like that. I think what he said was more along the lines of having more talent here than he did the first time, and that's a fair statement. Talent doesn't always translate into performance, though, and you can't account for injuries.