TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama sophomore tight end O.J. Howard doesn’t think about the end of the Ole Miss game very often.
At least he doesn’t now. He did for a quite a while, but then the ebbs and flows of the season turned his attention elsewhere.
The play, of course, was Alabama’s last just before fans rushed the field at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium, when on second-and-13 at the Ole Miss 32 senior quarterback Blake Sims looked to him in the end zone for a potential game-winning touchdown only Howard didn’t know that Rebels defensive back Senquez Golson was behind him.
“No, I didn’t see him,” Howard said about interception. “That’s why I tried to catch it the other way. Looking at the picture he was right there. At first I didn’t know he was right there.”
That wasn’t the first time that Sims and Howard failed to connect. In the opener against West Virginia the tight end was the target 20 yards downfield on Alabama’s first interception, and he didn’t make his first reception until Week 4 against Florida.
“We had a problem earlier in the season but now we’re on the same page, we’re clicking,” Howard said before admitting what the primary issue had been. “Probably just not me 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.”
The lesson learned, he had two receptions on the game-tying drive at LSU and Howard was one of the first players offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin looked to establish in the passing game against Auburn.
His 20-yard reach-up reception set up Alabama’s first touchdown. Howard subsequently landed hard on his back, but it brought his season totals up to 13 receptions with his 226 yards third on the team.
“I just think I’ve been getting open,” Howard said.
Granted, wide receivers Amari Cooper and DeAndrew White were the only Alabama players to catch passes during the second half of the 55-44 victory against Auburn, but it was also the Crimson Tide’s fourth comeback victory of the season.
That, of course, can be looked at two ways, as Nick Saban pointed out, the first being that the team had put itself in that position. The other is that it then rose to meet the challenge.
“I think the team has great resiliency, I think they have great competitive character, and I think that probably starts with the leadership on the team, the quarterback, the other leaders on the team,” the coach said. “They have a really strong will to want to succeed.”
All of the comebacks have occurred during the stretch run for Saturday’s SEC Championship Game in Atlanta (4 p.m. ET, CBS), with Howard a coming-of-age player on a coming-of-age team.
Christopher Walsh has covered Alabama football since 2004 and is the author of 19 books. In his free time, he writes about college football.
