When holding out hope for any kind of improvement from Ole Miss’ defense in 2018, the first argument to make is an admittedly lazy one: it can’t get much worse, having finished 113rd in defensive S&P+ last season.
There are actual football reasons for optimism, though, including the fact that Ole Miss will have a lot of experience in its secondary. If looking at returning production tells you anything, it’s that continuity in the secondary is key. The Rebels should benefit from a lot of that in 2018, as the secondary returns 88 percent of last year’s passes defensed and 79 percent of their tackles.