re: Never too early - Predicting next year's starters

I think Vogler gets a good shot at TE, as much as I've been on him the last few years. He's trusted more this year as a short yardage blocker, which has really been his biggest problem. He didn't play physical enough, and it showed in his blocking.

I think H-Back could potentially be platooned with Jones, Fowler, Howard, and even McNeil. Not that I don't think Howard is talented, but stepping in as a freshman and taking a starting job isn't always the easiest to do. I do think he'll be heavily involved as both a H-B and WR, but I'm not sure he is the opening day starter.

Fowler should return to his hybrid F-Back role, lining up anywhere at any given play. Harrison Jones is nothing special, but not doing anything wrong can take you somewhere in the eyes of Saban. McNeil is the wildcard, provided he sticks. Howard gets all the talk, but McNeil proved this Summer he is deadly on the routes Bama likes to run with their TEs. He was catching all the underneath passes and boxing out defenders on comebacks.

If AJ comes back, and I think he will, hopefully the TEs will be used a bit more due to increased athleticism. Nothing against Kelly Johnson and BMW, but they aren't exactly Gronkowski and Hernandez out there...