re: Official Fall Camp Discussion Thread - Who Wants to Wear Out That Trojan arse?

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As we count do the days to the return of the college football season, it is time to look at the SEC’s most dynamic pass-catching units.

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2. Alabama

I know this is a pass-catchers list, but it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room: Who is throwing the ball to these guys? Whomever it is, he’ll have no complaints about a lack of weapons.

On pure talent, this is one of the best groups in the country. Calvin Ridley may be the best receiver in the conference. The addition of Gehrig Dieter as a graduate transfer is a tremendous pickup. And ArDarius Stewart and Robert Foster provide more top-level talent.

It’s also difficult to ignore the explosion in production from tight end O.J. Howard in the national title game. Howard had an average year in 2015 given his natural ability, but was a devastating force against Clemson. At SEC Media Days, Nick Saban spoke about Howard’s development and his role in the Tide’s offense, according to 247 Sports: “We want to feature all of the players on our team that have a chance to be successful, and O.J. Howard should be a guy that should certainly create mismatches and do some good things stretching the field.”

How Alabama deploys all those weapons is interesting. Lane Kiffin runs an isolation offense. He likes to line up one receiver on one side of the offensive formation, force the defense to show its hand before the snap, and create as many 1-on-1 opportunities on the other side of the field as possible, hopefully finding a mismatch and signaling touchdown before his quarterback has thrown the ball.

Unlike some other coaches, Kiffin doesn’t use that isolated receiver as a decoy. Instead, he likes to force the ball to his most talented player, traditionally the isolated receiver. Amari Cooper had 124 receptions two years ago, 84 more than the second most targeted receiver. The trend continued last year with Calvin Ridley, as a freshman, having 26 more receptions than the next top target. With less offensive line and running back talent in 2016 expect Ridley’s numbers to be even more impressive in his second year, despite a quality supporting cast.

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