I think seven returning starters on defense is a little misleading. Hyde, Gags, and Bigach I get...but I'd say that Law was the starting safety by years end. We appear to be deep at corner and our DL should be much improved over this year. Cooper was flashing, LTP faded a bit, but should be more prepared for the grind, and Alvis will be much better this year. He just didn't have the explosiveness and hopefully that returns. If we can get a few more DL to make progress and a few of the young guys step up (Spears / Ott / J. Johnson / Ekatite)...this group will be considerably better.
Let's face it, our offense didn't help them much in our losses. I put the Central Michigan game on the defense to a certain extent, but our coaching staff gets a major assist there too.