ESPN CFB analyst ranks the Alabama defense ahead of 2025 season

Former Alabama football quarterback and ESPN college football analyst and commentator Greg McElroy believes the Alabama defense could be one of the best in college football in 2025.

McElroy recently ranked the top defenses in college football on ESPN’s Always College Football and ranked the Tide’s defense at No. 6. Texas came in at No. 1 on his list, followed by Ohio State at No. 2, Penn State at No. 3, Georgia at No. 4 and Notre Dame at No. 5.

Alabama’s returning production played a major part in where McElroy ranked them. He was also impressed with the strides the unit made in 2024.

“I love the way the team started to round into shape as the season went along,” McElroy said. “Remember, they were extremely young on defense last year as well. They at times had as many as four freshmen on the field at any one given time. Those guys are all back. Those guys are all now sophomores, and those guys are all in a position to, I think, take a significant step here. They have a lot of returning talent. They have a bunch of contributors off last year’s teams that decided to come back and should be able to anchor up front.”