The Texas 20, No. 5: The John Chavis Effect

[caption id="attachment_18036" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Richard Badillo Photo by Richard Badillo[/caption] This is the Texas 20, DCTF’s countdown of the 20 biggest storylines heading into the 2015 football season.No. 20: Is there a college sleeper in Texas?No. 19: Which Texas high school football records will be broken?No. 18: State title games headed to HoustonNo. 17: Will anyone play defense this season?No. 16: Can Allen keep dominating without Kyler Murray?No. 15: Cameron Yoe’s chase for a fourth straight titleNo. 14: New coaches at SMU and HoustonNo. 13: Can DeSoto finally get over the hump?No. 12: What will be the best region in the state?No. 11: Is anyone in Texas on the college coaching hot seat?No. 10: Are Rice or UTEP ready for the national spotlight?No. 9: Can anyone stop Canadian and Refugio?No. 8: Kliff Kingsbury's quest to turn flash into victoriesNo. 7: Aledo's chase for Texas high school football immortality No. 6: The quarterback situation at TexasToday, we’ve reached No. 5: The John Chavis effect at A&M. Texas A&M’s biggest addition in the offseason wasn’t a star recruit, or its newly remodeled stadium. Instead, it’s a 58-year-old guy with a mustache. In February, the Aggies made their biggest move of the offseason by poaching defensive coordinator John Chavis from division rival LSU. One of the finest defensive minds in the nation, Chavis is credited with turning the Tigers’ D into one of the fiercest units in America. A former defensive tackle at Tennessee, Chavis bounced around SEC country for the better part of 35 years, from Alabama A&M to Alabama State to Tennessee to LSU and now to A&M. And everywhere he’s been, he’s been an asset. A&M coach Kevin Sumlin is bringing in Chavis to turn around what was a dreadful Aggies defense the past two years, ranking 104^th in total defense in 2014 and 111^th in 2013. For as many headlines as the A&M offense has received, it’s been the Aggies’ defense that has kept the team from reaching the next level. So, what can A&M expect as far as the John Chavis Effect? This will be Chavis’ third FBS defensive coordinator job — he took over Tennessee’s defense in 1995, and LSU’s defense in 2009. What happened when he took over in those last two spots? We calculated “The Chavis Effect” by percentage improvement in national statistical rankings— there were 108 FBS teams in 1995, and 119 FBS teams in 2008.