Grantham is his guy so DM is holding them back in reality.
their D isn't good but a. lot of it is also recruiting. they don't recruit well esp for a big time SEC school. mullen doesn't care for it. also combine it with the fact that they just got insanely lucky (you can say Manny got lucky with TVD but he at least brought him in, dan took the leftovers from Mac with trask and never would've found him had franks not broken his ankle). I think Pitts was a Mac guy too (I believe he was Jordans class but he may. be a mullet recruit).
in the end, they didn't have bad talent when he took the job (shark ****** isn't good as a champ was as a recruiter and you saw the results decline over time) and once the previous regimes guys left, mullet is left with a ton of empty from his lack of recruiting (whether misses or signing guys who don't ever enroll).