We’ve all done it at one time or another: you sit down and try to figure out just how good a college football team is going to be next year, counting all the returning starters to see if your team has a chance to improve or not. It’s not a bad way of doing things — starters tend to be your best players, after all — but the game has evolved to the point where starters don’t really count for much anymore.
For example: going into the 2019 season, Missouri fans were curious as to whether Larry Rountree III would be able to handle “starting” reps with the surprise loss of Damarea Crockett to an early NFL Draft entrance.