Today’s blog continues my in-depth look at my NCAA Experience Chart. For nine years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In 2009, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better by adding new categories like Career Starts on Offensive line, % of Offensive Yards returning, % of Defensive Yards returning and % of lettermen returning.

Dont forget that the 2018 College Football Preview is up and available right now on iTunes, Google Play and also we now offer a browser version (see bottom of page).

Today I will look at the % of tackles returning. I took all of the tackles made by the team a year ago and then took all of the returning tackles from 2017 and divided it into that number for the percentage.

Last year at the top of the list was Syracuse, which had 89.2% of their total tackles returning from 2016 and their record stayed the same from 4-8 to 4-8. Florida St was #2 with 87.2% and their record surprisingly went down from 10-3 to 7-6!

At the bottom of the list last year was #130 UAB, which had just 17.9% of their tackles returning. This was UAB’s first year back after the program was shut down for 2 years. Then #129 Air Force, which had just 25.0% back. UAB went from allowing 406 ypg (’14) improving to 366 ypg last year. Air Force went from yielding 26.2 ppg all the way up to 32.4 ppg. UNLV was #128 with just 27.6% back and they went from 430 ypg to 459 ypg but improved their ppg from 36.8 to 31.8.

This year the most veteran defenses are all teams I expect to improve their records this year. Florida Atlantic leads the way with 90.8% of its tackles returning. #2 Texas Tech (88.2%) and #3 Georgia Southern (86.6%).

At the bottom of this years list are #130 Connecticut which has just 33.1% of its tackles returning.  FIU at #129, which has just 38.6% of its total tackles back. #128 Indiana (38.8%) rounds out the only 3 teams under 40%.

Here is the complete list.

Available now: The digital copy of the Phil Steele 2018 College Football Preview is now available on Android devices through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Just search for “Phil Steele” on their app store, download the app and purchase the 2018 College Magazine there for just $12.99. Also we have a digital browser version here. The Apple App Store and Amazon Kindle versions are awaiting approval and should be out shortly.

**Also a bonus for those of you that purchase the magazine on the browser version you will be able to use your login credentials on any of the platforms listed above.

It will save you wear and tear on your printed magazine. If you get both you can use it as your mobile version of the magazine and that will keep your actual magazine from getting dog eared and torn up early in the year.

Any questions or problems with the Phil Steele browser version or Apps please contact Todd at todd@philsteele.com.