When it comes to go-to guys at wide receiver in recent years, Alabama has established a pipeline into South Florida that has left in-state powers Florida State, Florida and Miami wondering what might have been.

It started with the 2012 arrival of Amari Cooper to the Capstone, where he would go on to haul in 228 passes during a three-year stint at UA before having his name called by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. Cooper didn't just catch a lot of passes, either. He also scored a lot of touchdowns. In finding the end zone once every seven times he caught a pass for the Crimson Tide, he finished his career with a school-record 31 scoring grabs.

Following in the footsteps of Cooper was another South Floridian, Calvin Ridley, who, like Cooper, led UA in receptions each of the three years he was in the program, surpassing the 200-reception mark for his career in the process. While he didn't come close to Cooper's insanely-high touchdown reception total, Ridley didn't have a season with fewer than five scoring catches during his time in crimson.

With what we've seen from Cooper and Ridley over the last six seasons, it seems somewhat inevitable that another entry from the Sunshine State pipeline, Deerfield Beach product Jerry Jeudy, will continue to carry the torch for neighboring counties -- Dade (Cooper) and Broward (Ridley) -- that have been extremely kind to the UA passing game. Seeing as how Jeudy, who missed most of 2018 spring drills with a knee injury, led the next wave of Alabama receivers in receptions a season ago, it would be a reasonable assumption, anyway.

Thing is, with fellow super sophomores Henry Ruggs III and Devonta Smith very much in the mix, Jeudy will likely have more competition for touches than did either Ridley and Cooper. While Jeudy's 14 receptions did lead UA's dynamic trio of true freshmen a year ago, Ruggs (12 catches in 2017, with half of those going for scores) and Smith (three of his seven grabs resulted in touchdowns) weren't exactly overlooked when given the chance to shine.

With five scholarship players returning at the position, one might come to the conclusion that 2018 will be the year of the tight end in the Alabama passing attack. While both Irv Smith Jr. and Hale Hentges were both productive in red zone opportunities a season ago -- each caught three touchdown passes -- the last time a tight end led UA in receptions was in 1990, when Lamonde Russell caught 28 passes (a year after he caught a team-high 51 balls).

The Crimson Tide also welcomes back a deep and talented stable of running backs, a quartet that one through four has shown the ability to get the job done as a receivers. Again, though, between what UA will have to work with at wide receiver and what the position has produced in the receiving department in the past, it's difficult to imagine Damien Harris, Najee Harris, Josh Jacobs or Brian Robinson leading the way. In other words, while an uptick in don't expect two of the aforementioned quartet to combine for 84 catches like the late Kevin Turner and Siran Stacy did in 1989.

There's also the quarterback position to consider. Specifically, how UA goes about spreading the ball around to a litany of playmakers will be interesting to watch.

The last time we saw Tua Tagovailoa and Jalen Hurts in a game, Tagovailoa connected with nine different receivers in two quarters and an overtime possession of work. As for Hurts, his first half against Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game saw him complete three of his eight pass attempts, with each of those going to different receivers.

While the disparity between Ridley and other UA receivers in catches was wider than the Mobile Bay a season ago, the wealth in scoring grabs was spread quite evenly, as Hurts connected with nine different players on his way to recording 17 scoring tosses while six different pass catchers were on the receiving end of Tagovailoa's 11 touchdown passes in 2017.

So, there you go, plenty of candidates and associated participants to ponder. With that, who ya got as Alabama's leader in receptions for the upcoming season?

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