Alabama tight end O.J. Howard entered last season as a true sophomore whom many expected to emerge as one of the most productive players in the country at the position.
Instead, Howard caught just six passes in the first eight games of the ’14 season for the Tide. (We even designed a “missing” milk carton image for Howard out of deep-seated concern.)
The 6-foot-6, 240-pound upcoming junior saw an uptick in production and targets in the second half of the season — he caught 11 passes in the final six games — but still nothing near what many expected prior to last year’s opening kickoff.
Apparently former Crimson Tide tight end Brian Vogler is among those who think Alabama needs to get Howard more involved in the passing game this fall.
“Obviously my biggest hope is O.J. gets a lot more opportunities in the passing game,” Vogler said, according to AL.com. “He’s an unbelievable athlete, and he’s way too big of a guy and way too fast of a guy to not get more opportunities.”
Howard is on his third starting quarterback this year and must have a sense of urgency as he goes through practice this spring.
In December, he told AL.com that the problem was he “probably (was) just not going to get the ball out of the air. But now I’ve been doing a pretty good job of it, of going up and getting it and attacking the ball.”
With the departure of Amari Cooper, DeAndrew White and Christion Jones, the Tide are searching for a new No. 1 receiver. Perhaps the man to fill that role plays a different position.
An itinerant journalist, Christopher has moved between states 11 times in seven years. Formally an injury-prone Division I 800-meter specialist, he now wanders the Rockies in search of high peaks.
