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UCLA, Washington lead Pac-12's talented secondaries

Every Pac-12 team will deal with primary issues during spring practices, but just one -- Arizona State -- will be taxed by secondary issues.

That bit of fatuous wordplay leads into the conference's most notable personal strength heading into the 2016 season: the secondary.

Nine teams welcome back at least three starters in the back half on defense. One team not included in that crew, Stanford, pretty much should be, as two starters are back and Zach Hoffpauir, a 2014 starter, is returning to the team after focusing for a year on professional baseball. Arizona State is the only team replacing three starters, and that might not be a bad thing for a unit that surrendered 35 touchdown passes last fall, tied for most in the conference.