It seems like every season most Senior and Junior heavy teams fair the best in our conference. Of course there are always exceptions (example UTSA last year).

How many returning starters does each program have coming back, and what are their classification?

I'll start.

Offense
North Texas returns 5 starters on offense. Of the 5, only one is a senor, and two are juniors.

This is bad for North Texas. Not only are we limited with upper classmen leadership, but by having to replace more then 50% of our offense, we will need time to gel. Add in the fact that Littrell is implementing a new vertical offense and the challenges get even more difficult.

Defense
North Texas returns 10 starters. Seven of these are seniors, and one is a junior.

This might be good, but last seasons defense with many of these players was really bad. In 2013 North Texas had a very good defense with players that had no success in Todd Dodge's last season. North Texas is also transitioning to a 3-3-5 defense, so we don't know how the current personnel fit into that scheme.

One thing to consider is the fact that Littrell and his staff have been busy adding JUCO transfers on both sides of the ball, and we can't predict how things will work out.

One thing is certain, North Texas will look very different this season. Just looking at this data, I can't predict us making a bowl, but by the second half of the season, we might develop into a dangerous team.

It's tough to say for sure with Rice. We had a lot of injuries last year so there were guys who started at times but I don't know if they're considered true returning starters or not.

We probably return 7 starters on offense (most of the OL, all the running backs for the most part, the TE, and a WR or two, but we will definitely have a new QB after losing a four-year starter there).

Defense is 5 returning starters I guess with a couple of others who did have some spot starts? We have some experience at linebacker but the DL and secondary is pretty young and untested.

We return our kickers but will have a new punter and deep snapper.