Let me throw something at you.
Though Alabama was losing its starting quarterback and its Heisman Trophy running back, plus a few other key pieces from its 2015 National Championship Team, it returned for 2016 as the preseason No. 1-ranked team.
Why was that the case?
I can tell you why, the Crimson Tide returned all of the key players in the trenches on both the offensive and defensive lines. Granted, they had to break in a new quarterback and the running game was led by a committee instead of one player, but they went through the entire season, including in the big bad SEC, undefeated and for the most part destroying anyone who got in their way.