Our annual pilgrimage through the vast, empty desert known as the offseason mercifully draws to an end. Long and arduous a trek as it is, the kick off to a new season is so exciting and intriguing a payoff that, year in and year out, we readily conclude that the suffering was well worth it.

The arrival of a fresh season means fresh hope for our own favorite team, of course, but also a fresh group of competitors about whom we must learn. Much of that learning will be done on a week-to-week basis as the schedule unfolds, but the time is ripe to survey the field a bit, and to that end, the SB Nation Big 12 bloggers have banded together for a conference-wide education on the defensive units that Big 12 teams will be fielding this fall.

Note: click on any of the team cards to visit the team's SB Nation blog.



K-State overview provided by TB.



OU overview provided by M. Hofeld.



UT overview provided by PB, Wescott, and nobis60.



OSU overview provided by Robert Whetsell.



Baylor overview provided by PB.



Texas Tech overview provided by Seth C.



TCU overview provided by HawkeyedFrog.



West Virginia overview provided by WVUIE97.



ISU overview provided by CanAzn.



Kansas overview provided by Owen.

After reading through the team experts' takes on their own units, which defense are you most concerned about facing heading into the season? Any predictions on any of these opposing units?

And most importantly, what are you expecting from the Longhorns defense in 2013? Will we see play that's more like the exceptional unit Manny Diaz directed in his first year in Austin, or the fail festival that defined Texas defense a year ago?