Alabama Crimson Tide

The SEC had a record 63 players selected in last month's NFL draft, including 12 in the first round.

I'm not sure it's realistic to expect that kind of haul next year, but it's never too early to start looking ahead to the 2014 draft class.

So, similar to a year ago, I've come up with our list of the SEC's top 20 draft prospects for 2014.

This isn’t a mock draft. Likewise, it’s not a ranking of who I think will be the best players in the SEC next season. Rather, it’s a projection of who will be the most coveted NFL prospects from the SEC when the 2014 draft rolls around in April. In coming up with this list, I’ve talked to several draft analysts as well as NFL personnel, SEC coaches and others who are clued in to the whole draft process.

Some players will obviously play their way onto this list next season, while others will play their way off it. Injuries undoubtedly will be a factor, and then occasionally, guys will come from nowhere to be first-round picks.

Among the prospects I nailed this time a year ago were Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner, Alabama offensive guard Chance Warmack, LSU defensive end Barkevious Mingo and LSU safety Eric Reid.

Among those I missed the boat on were Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel, Missouri defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd and Alabama offensive tackle D.J. Fluker.

I had Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson No. 1 overall and South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore in my top five. So it never goes exactly the way anybody predicts, especially 11 months before the draft.

Here goes with our 2014 list. Again, we’re not suggesting all 20 will go in the first round or even the first two rounds. It’s simply the order we think they will come off the board in next April’s draft and includes only draft-eligible players:

1. Jadeveon Clowney, DE, South Carolina, Jr.: The ultimate game-changer on defense, Clowney would have been a first-rounder had he been draft-eligible after his freshman season. Clowney then excelled in 2012, elevating his status as the 2014 No. 1 favorite.

2: Cyrus Kouandjio, OT, Alabama, Jr.: A potential top-five pick in next year's draft, the 6-foot-6, 310-pound Kouandjio is everything you're looking for in a left tackle.

3. Jake Matthews, OT, Texas A&M, Sr.: We know Matthews has the bloodlines, but he also has the game. He's shifting over from right tackle to left tackle for his senior season.

4. Antonio Richardson, OT, Tennessee, Jr.: The man they call Tiny has the size and athleticism to be a franchise left tackle. Clowney said Richardson was one of the best tackles he faced a year ago.

5. Anthony Johnson, DT, LSU, Jr.: There's a reason they call him Freak. They just seem to breed great defensive linemen at LSU, and Johnson is next in line.

6. Loucheiz Purifoy, CB, Florida, Jr.: He's a pure cover cornerback with good size and an explosive athlete to boot. The Gators also will play him at receiver next season.

7. Johnny Manziel, QB, Texas A&M, RSo.: Yes, Manziel is shorter than the NFL typically likes its quarterbacks, but do measurables really matter when you make as many plays as Johnny Football does?

8. Dominique Easley, DT, Florida, Sr.: Easley is fully recovered from the torn ACL he suffered at the end of the 2011 season. He's sliding inside to tackle next season and will be a force for the Gators.

9. Adrian Hubbard, OLB, Alabama, RJr.: We saw his ability to get to the quarterback in flashes last season. Look for Hubbard to take that next step in 2013 and become a premier finisher.

10. C.J. Mosley, LB, Alabama, Sr.: As the saying goes, he's a football player. Mosley is a sure tackler. He's excellent in coverage and is always money whenever Alabama needs a big play.

11. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, S, Alabama, Jr.: In the past four drafts, Alabama has produced four first-round selections in the secondary. Clinton-Dix could be the top safety off the board next year.

12. Mike Evans, WR, Texas A&M, RSo.: In his first season in the SEC, the 6-5, 225-pound Evans was sensational with 82 catches and 1,105 yards. He'll be even better his second time through.

13. AJ McCarron, QB, Alabama, Sr.: Sure, he's been surrounded by great talent, but McCarron also has an NFL arm, delivers in the clutch and takes care of the football.

14. Jordan Matthews, WR, Vanderbilt, Sr.: The 6-3, 205-pound Matthews is so smooth that he makes it look easy. And talk about productive. He averaged 109.6 receiving yards in eight SEC games.

15. Donte Moncrief, WR, Ole Miss, Jr.: One of the more underrated players in the SEC, the 6-3, 215-pound Moncrief has a knack for finding the end zone with 14 touchdowns in his first two seasons.

16. Daniel McCullers, DT, Tennessee, Sr.: This mountain of a man (6-8, 360 pounds) is still developing, but he should make an imposing nose tackle for a team that uses a 3-4 defensive scheme.

17. Marcus Roberson, CB, Florida, Jr.: The "other" Florida cornerback also has big-time skills and was second in the SEC in passes defended last season with 14.

18: Chaz Sutton, DE, South Carolina, RJr.: Clowney will get most of the attention next season, but don't be surprised if Sutton blows up and has a monster senior season.

19: Gabe Jackson, OG, Mississippi State, Sr.: Jackson thought about coming out early this year. He returns as one of the top offensive guards in college football.

20: Aaron Murray, QB, Georgia, Sr.: The opinions are mixed on Murray, who's bearing down on several SEC records. His numbers speak for themselves, and so does the way he approaches the game.

ALABAMA CRIMSON TIDE
2012 record: 13-1
2012 conference record: 7-1 (first, Western Division)
Returning starters: Offense: 5; defense: 6; kicker/punter: 2

Top returners
QB AJ McCarron, LT Cyrus Kouandjio, RG Anthony Steen, WR Amari Cooper, RB T.J. Yeldon, LB C.J. Mosley, LB Adrian Hubbard, S Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix, CB Deion Belue, DE Ed Stinson

Key losses
C Barrett Jones, LG Chance Warmack, RT D.J. Fluker, RB Eddie Lacy, CB Dee Milliner, S Robert Lester, LB Nico Johnson, NG Jesse Williams

2012 statistical leaders (*returners)

Rushing: Eddie Lacy (1,322 yards)
Passing: AJ McCarron* (2,933 yards)
Receiving: Amari Cooper* (1,000 yards)
Tackles: C.J. Mosley* (107)
Sacks: Adrian Hubbard* (7)
Interceptions: Ha'Sean Clinton-Dix* (5)

Spring answers

1. Weapons abound: It's an embarrassment of riches, really. The Alabama offense has steadily gained strength in recent years, but this coming season promises more explosiveness with a senior under center and a number of playmakers at wide receiver. Starters Amari Cooper and Kevin Norwood return, along with a triumvirate of rehabilitated weapons in Chris Black, Kenny Bell and DeAndrew White. Throw in a talented freshman in tight end O.J. Howard the possibilities in the passing game are limitless.

2. Rebuilt offensive line: It started the offseason as the biggest question mark but spring camp quelled any fear of the offensive line experiencing a significant drop-off after losing three of five starters from last season. Center Ryan Kelly has become the centerpiece snapping the football, stepping in for former Rimington Award winner Barrett Jones at center. And with two cornerstone linemen in left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio and right guard Anthony Steen, coach Nick Saban has to feel good about where things stand up front on offense.

3. Leadership from the top: For two years he hasn't had to take the bull by the horns. There have been other, often older, leaders to step up and take charge. But this season is different for quarterback AJ McCarron. He's not only coming into his own as a passer, he's developing into the voice of the football team -- and not just on offense.

Fall questions

1. Secondary solutions: Year after year, the problem is the same. Alabama develops stars in the secondary only to see them leave for the NFL draft. This time it was shutdown cornerback Dee Milliner and veteran safety Robert Lester walking out the door. And who will step up to replace them remains unclear. Deion Belue looks to have rebounded after a shaky first season in Tuscaloosa and rising sophomore Geno Smith showed promise as a rookie in 2012. But it will take more than a handful of starters to keep the Tide's secondary on track.

2. Rushing the passer: While it's true that Saban's system isn't built on traditional defensive statistics like sacks and tackles for loss, it is capable of accomplishing those things with the right playmakers in place. And recently there's been a lack of pure edge rushers capable of collapsing the pocket on a consistent basis. Adrian Hubbard stepped up at outside linebacker late in the season, but his production has been up and down. If guys like linebacker Xzavier Dickson and defensive end Dalvin Tomlinson can provide that pressure, the defense will be in good shape.

3. In case of emergency: It's the scenario no one around Tuscaloosa wants to entertain: What would happen if AJ McCarron were injured and missed a significant portion of the season? If he were to go down would the Tide's championship hopes leave with him? Last year's backups have been inconsistent at best and don't appear to be real options over the long term. The three early enrollees at the position aren't ready either, but redshirt freshman Alec Morris may be the one the staff can rely on. He'll have the fall to prove whether he's capable of becoming a dependable backup, and in turn the future at quarterback when McCarron moves on after this season.

With spring practice complete and fall camp right around the corner, TideNation's power rankings return with a look at the top 10 Alabama players heading into the offseason.

1. QB AJ McCarron (Last ranking: 2): After three trips to the White House, there's not much that fazes McCarron. Even after two interceptions in the A-Day game, there wasn't an ounce of concern. "None," in his words, and at this point in his career there shouldn't be. His championship rings, his record-breaking stats and his talent speak for themselves. There might not be a more decorated quarterback in school history by the time he hangs it up.

2. ILB C.J. Mosley (3): It's one thing for a quarterback to play with a black jersey. It's another for a linebacker to do it. But a bum shoulder wouldn't slow Mosley down. The rising senior and leading tackler from last season played all spring with a shoulder harness and a no-contact jersey, yet he found a way to contribute. On Saturday, Mosley finished with a team-high nine "tackles" and, more impressively, caused and recovered a fumble on the same play.

3. LT Cyrus Kouandjio (NR): He's the rock, the anchor to a line replacing three starters. And if you're going to start over, it's nice to have a franchise left tackle like Kouandjio. The rising junior enters the season as arguably the most prized offensive linemen in the SEC. It's only a matter of time before he declares for the NFL draft and is taken near the top of the first round, so Tide fans should enjoy him while they can.

4. RB T.J. Yeldon (7): It's almost as though Yeldon was an afterthought as many fans clung to the untapped potential of early enrollee Derrick Henry this spring. It's typical of a talented team, though, as Yeldon, only a sophomore, is already taken for granted. It was only a year ago that he was the energizing rookie making fans forget about incumbent Eddie Lacy. Unoticed or not, Yeldon is a feature back worth his weight in gold.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Year after year, the tone is the same. Nick Saban, stubborn and strong-willed as ever, opens spring camp at Alabama with a similar message: Forget the past season, forget the championship, forget everything you've done.

"Every year you've got to reinvent your team," he told reporters after the first day of practice three weeks ago.

For the 61-year-old head coach of the defending champions, both eyes are locked firmly on the future. Time spent in the past is time wasted. There are too many more important questions to be considered.

"Who are going to be the leaders?" he asked. "Who are going to be the guys that set an example? Who steps forward as young players who show that they have the responsibility to do a job and be dependable in doing that job so that we have a chance to play winning football with them?"

In the time since Alabama has opened camp, Saban and his staff have been busy. First, assistant coaches like Mario Cristobal (offensive line), Billy Napier (wide receivers) and Greg Brown (secondary) needed to be acclimated to the environment. Then came the position changes. Eleven starters had to be replaced and some weak spots on both sides of the ball needed patching. Running back Dee Hart and wide receivers Christion Jones and Cyrus Jones were moved to cornerback at the start of camp and all three remained there through the Tide's first scrimmage.

But now that Alabama has entered the homestretch -- only six practices remain in the spring -- the outlook of the team is starting to take shape. Ryan Kelly has solidified his role as the team's starter at center, replacing All-American Barrett Jones; Geno Smith is solidifying his spot as the team's No. 2 cornerback, picking up where future first-round pick Dee Milliner left off; and C.J. Mosley is stepping into an even larger role, going from the most popular reserve in the country to a full-time starter for the first time in his already decorated career.

It's a start, Saban said, but not anything more than that. AJ McCarron is his quarterback, T.J. Yeldon is his running back; this much he knows. It's what he doesn't that's bothersome. After Alabama's first scrimmage on Saturday, Saban voiced his frustration. Halfway through the spring, he wasn't seeing the answers he'd liked.

"We're not where we'd love to be or would like to be," he said. "… It all starts with guys being able to sustain the kind of mental intensity you need to have to be a good football player, especially when things get a little tough, it gets a little tough, you get a little bit tired. We just don't have the mental toughness we need from enough guys to sustain things, pay attention to detail, and do the little things right so we can execute better as a team."

He continued: "We had some guys play well, but kind of hit and miss right now. We don't have enough guys doing the right things the right way all the time."

Sound familiar? It should. Rewind the tape to this time a year ago and you'll notice the same displeased tone. Whether it's genuine disappointment or a never-ending battle to fight complacency through the press, Saban is nothing if not consistent.

"I’m talking about things like effort, toughness, focus to execute, the kind of intensity you need to do your job on a consistent basis," he said following the Tide's first scrimmage of the spring a year ago.

His message got through then, but will it this time around? With so much success built up over the past few years, can it be sustained?

With it being the spring, the answers to those questions remain unknown. Saban isn't interested in the past and he's not terribly excited about looking that much farther into the future. A-Day is right around the corner and there's too much work to be done for him to take his eye off the ball now.

In Tuscaloosa, it's been as it's always been since Saban arrived: A process.

"We don't have enough guys doing the right things the right way all the time," he said. "That's something we really need to work on. It's a work in progress to try to continue to improve."

Editor's note: From now until the start of spring camp on March 16, TideNation will count down the 12 most intriguing players to watch on the Alabama football roster. Today we look at linebacker Adrian Hubbard.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- If there was an obvious hole in Alabama's game this past season, it was generating consistent pressure on the offensive backfield. Put more simply, the pass rush was found to be lacking. There were six games in which the defense had two or fewer sacks and as many games where it had five or fewer tackles for loss. Without an elite pass rusher like Courtney Upshaw or Dont'a Hightower, the Crimson Tide failed to get to the quarterback enough, or at least not enough to meet head coach Nick Saban's standards.

"It’s not something that is a strength for us," Saban said in the weeks leading up to the BCS National Championship Game, "but we work hard on it. It seems like when we’re in individual drills we do a pretty good job in that regard. When we know it’s a pass we don’t do a bad job. I think the biggest issue is converting pass rush, you know, in run-pass situations."

He pointed out earlier in the season that the defense lacked a "dominant rusher" and that it was "a combination of not rushing on a consistent basis and not covering on a consistent basis that has been one of the problems that we've had."

But that was before the throttling of Notre Dame in South Florida and not far enough removed from the close of the season where it appeared that Alabama may have found its pass-rusher of the future. Adrian Hubbard, the long, athletic redshirt sophomore from Georgia, came on late in season with three sacks in the final three games. The talented outside linebacker played so well that he considered entering the NFL draft early, but decided on coming back for at least one more season.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- By any statistical measurement, Alabama's signing class this year was a success. The number of ESPN 300 members who faxed in their paperwork was staggering. Thirteen signees were ranked in the top 10 nationally at their positions.

The No. 1 class ranking was just a distinction. Simply hauling in top recruits won't get a team too far. UA coach Nick Saban knows this well. As he and his staff were building the class, they had goals in mind. The road map was simple.

"We didn’t change the recruiting strategy," Saban said. "We define the kind of players that we want, and they have critical factors at each position. I think we added fast-twitch, pass-rushing athletic guys to the defensive line category as being a higher priority because of spread offenses, more spread offenses, more athletic quarterbacks -- those types of things, the same things that NFL teams are talking about when they play against RG3 or [Colin] Kaepernick or Russell Wilson from Seattle, who are athletic and run the ball. We have to be able to adapt to that kind of athleticism and that means we have to be more athletic to do that."

In other words, Saban is gearing up for three more years of Johnny Manziel and Texas A&M. The Aggies were the only team to beat Alabama in 2012, and after watching the future Heisman Trophy winner carve up his defense, Saban is ready to react.

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- The buzz that Alabama redshirt sophomore linebacker Adrian Hubbard might be leaving early for the NFL draft can be put to rest as he announced through the university that he would return for another season.

“I had a chance to take a step back and weigh my options after the championship game and I felt it was in my best interest to return next season,” Hubbard said in the news release. “I feel like I can play a bigger role as a leader on our defense and I also know I need to improve in some areas as a player before I hopefully take the next step to the NFL."

Hubbard played in all 14 games at outside linebacker this past season, starting 13. He finished with 41 total tackles, including 11 tackles for loss and seven sacks. His draft stock rose as he recorded a sack in each of Alabama’s final three games against Auburn, Georgia and Notre Dame. His 7 sacks ranked sixth in the SEC this season.

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