75 DAYS TO 2016 KICKOFF: A.J. Allen

Harry Lee "A.J." Allen (b. Sept. 16, 1994) is a talented community college offensive lineman who used his redshirt season in 2014 season to develop and continued that development in 2015, but did not see any game action.

I seriously hope Allen will compete for playing time as a redshirt senior in 2016, but he's shown no signs of breaking through any time soon. He played sparingly, but did not start, for the White team in the 2016 spring game.

And now for the mea culpa: Two years ago, I thought Allen was our shining hope at left tackle. That was partly my underestimating Cody Whitehair's capability and partly my overestimating Allen's ability to make an instant impact.

Personally, if Allen ever is to see the field, I think it most likely will be as a backup to incoming JUCO transfer Abdul Beecham at right tackle, but right now, he's behind redshirt sophomore Bryce Fitzner, who also has not played at all.

Allen played two seasons for the Grossmont Griffins under head coach Mike Jordan, helping the team to go 5-5 during his freshman season in 2012 and 5-6 as a sophomore in 2013 to earn a trip to the Western State Bowl.

He was rated the nation's 13th-best junior college offensive tackle by ESPN. In a nice change of pace, he spurned Texas Tech to commit to us late in the cycle after we already had lost three prior commitments to the Red Raiders.

Allen lettered two seasons for Valhalla High School under head coach Charlie Bussey, was selected to play in the 2011 California All-Star Game, and participated in basketball and track and field. Watch his JUCO highlights here.