College Football: Top 3 defensive coordinators available in 2017

3. Kevin Steele, Auburn Tigers

Out of all of these three defensive coordinators, Kevin Steele is the only one that has head coaching experience. Bad experience, but experience nonetheless.

But Steele’s claim to fame is his recruiting and defense. Steele has helped produce three different top-10 recruiting classes at three different schools (Florida State, Clemson, and Alabama). In 2005, he gave the Seminoles the top class in the nation and was awarded with the Rivals.com Recruiter of the Year.

Four years later, he landed in Clemson and took over the defense. His 2011 Tiger defense won the ACC and only allowed 18.8 points per game and ranked 13th in the nation in points allowed.

In 2013, as the director of player personnel he  helped the Crimson Tide get another top recruiting class. A class that had countless five and four stars. Some of those players include Bo Scarbrough, Marlon Humphrey, Rashaan Evans, Ross Pierschbacher, Shaun Dion Hamilton and countless others. In the 2014 season, he coached Reggie Ragland, Reueben Foster and other talented Tide linebackers.

Before he landed in the Plains of Auburn, he went and coached at LSU. In his first year at Auburn, he had the seventh-ranked scoring defense, 11th red zone defense and the 28th total defense — last year’s defense was ranked in the 70s.

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Steele also brings a championship DNA. He was a linebacker coach on the 1994 Nebraska Cornhuskers team. Maybe he makes a return to Nebraska if the price is right.