SEC Football Q&A: Will O.J. Howard Be an All-American at Alabama?

The deadline to declare for the NFL draft has come and gone, and now we have a better understanding of what 2016 college rosters will actually look like.

Alabama got big news Monday when tight end O.J. Howard announced he will return for his senior season in an effort to be part of a third straight SEC title.

Just how good will he be? That question and more are answered in this edition of SEC Q&A:

For the majority of the first three years of his career, Alabama's Howard was the Crimson Tide's version of a unicorn.

You know, that mythical creature you hear about all the time but never really see.

In the College Football Playoff National Championship, he shed his horn and became a workhorse.

The 6'6", 242-pound true junior from Prattville, Alabama, caught five passes for 208 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama's 45-40 win over Clemson, en route to offensive MVP honors on the biggest stage of his career.

Would Howard go out on top?

Nope. He announced on Twitter on Monday afternoon—the deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft—that he will return to Tuscaloosa for his senior season.

He broke out in the title game earlier this month, but will that continue into the 2016 season and lead Howard to All-American honors?

It's hard to simply assume that Howard will be part of the game plan for a full season after being more myth than reality for the better part of three seasons. But based on Alabama's roster attrition and the focus the monster who can run like a deer now has from the coaching staff, his best might be yet to come.

"I would say it's bad coaching on my part that he didn't have the opportunity to do that all year long because he is really a good athlete, and he's improved tremendously as a player this year," head coach Nick Saban said after the title game, according to quotes released by the CFP. "He's improved his blocking."

That last part is key because his inability to block consistently was a big reason why he was not on the field as much as he could have been in Alabama's run-based offense. If he was out on the field, it was a surefire tell that a pass was coming.

He has to continue to work on that aspect of his game because that's what's going to determine whether he's an All-American in 2016 and just how high he will be drafted. Saban certainly seems happy with his progress, and it's clear just how much of a physical freak he is.

Howard will put together that final piece of the puzzle in 2016, become a focal point of the new-look Crimson Tide offense and be the best tight end in the country as a senior.

Yes, there's absolutely reason to believe he can keep it going.

Dak Prescott was awesome at Mississippi State and, in all likelihood, is considered the best player in Bulldogs history. But head coach Dan Mullen should also be considered the best coach in Bulldogs history, and he played a big part in making Prescott what he was.

The good news for Mullen is that Nick Fitzgerald—the presumed replacement for Prescott—is built almost exactly like the former superstar, so the offense won't change all that much.

Should fans expect the same production from Fitzgerald? Of course not. At least, not initially.

Wesley Hitt/Getty Images

But with stud receiver Fred Ross back, along with virtually all of the production at running back and three starters along the offensive line, the offense shouldn't change all that much. What changes are made will probably be appropriate for the personnel since that's what Mullen does best.

Mullen has raised the floor of the program and, over the last two seasons, raised the ceiling as well. It's hard to fathom Mississippi State contending for the division title in 2016, but it shouldn't be struggling for bowl eligibility, either. 

A solid seven- or eight-win regular season should be expected. That should be considered "keeping it rolling" because simply maintaining an even keel was unheard of in Starkville just a half-decade ago.

Allowing underclassmen to come back after the normal NFL Scouting Combine that takes place in mid-February is very unrealistic and would hurt both sides. 

For players, it would give them a month away from college to get in all kinds of NCAA trouble. What are they living off? Who's paying for the pre-combine training from professionals outside of the college program? What happens if they get hurt leading up to or during the event, which is just a couple of weeks before the start of spring practice at some schools?

For coaches, who's going to be on the roster for the upcoming season? The combine is after national signing day, and allowing players to come back after newcomers sign on the dotted line could seriously impact scholarship numbers, the decisions on who to recruit and what prospects decide to do.

There is a better way, though: Hold an underclassmen combine the Thursday after the CFP National Championship, which takes place on a Monday in mid-January every year just a few days before the recruiting dead period is lifted.

Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Make this event exclusive to the players on each team who put in for grades from the NFL, invite professional scouts and make it clear that this combine is taking place, for the most part, without training specifically for the event. In the case of players who played in the title game, the scouts would know they played just a few days prior.

Let the underclassmen get real feedback on the spot from scouts on site, and give them 48 hours to decide after the event ends. That way, players have real info they can use either during training for the NFL or back in college, coaches have the knowledge of how their teams will be constructed once the dead period is lifted, and prospects know how real the possibility is of earning immediate playing time.

Everybody wins.

Quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Statistics are courtesy of cfbstats.com, and recruiting information is courtesy of 247Sports.

Barrett Sallee is the lead SEC college football writer and national college football video analyst for Bleacher Report as well as a host on Bleacher Report Radio on SiriusXM 83. Follow Barrett on Twitter @BarrettSallee.