Nick Saban details how Amari Niblack earned more playing time

Alabama freshman tight end Amari Niblack had his first collegiate catch and touchdown all in one in the second quarter of the Crimson Tide’s week 3 game versus Louisiana-Monroe. Niblack caught a 15 yard strike in the end zone from quarterback Bryce Young, in a moment that he’ll surely remember forever. Head coach Nick Saban spoke about Niblack’s role as a younger player seeing big minutes so early in his career.

“Well he’s a guy we’re trying to use more and more, the learning curve is always the issue with young players, and being able to learn lessons and stack positive performance and be confident in more and more things that you can do,” Saban said.

Niblack was a 5-star recruit out of Clearwater, Florida, ranked the No. 1 tight end in the nation according to On3 Consensus in the 2022 class. He opened some eyes during fall camp, and has shown fast progression, as he earned some first-team reps for Alabama’s offense in their last game.

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The Crimson Tide already have one of the best tight ends in the country in Cameron Latu, who set a new Alabama school record last season for tight end touchdown receptions with eight. Latu missed Alabama’s season opener with an injury, but in weeks 2 and 3 re-established himself, as he’s Alabama’s fourth-leading receiver with 7 catches for 79 yards.

Alabama likes what they’ve seen from their veteran and rookie tight ends in Latu and Niblack, and hopefully for them, they can use a combination of the two in their offensive attack moving forward this season.

And the two could complement each other well, as Latu stands at 6-foot-5, 246 pounds, and Niblack at 6-foot-4, 220 pounds. Both have slightly different skillsets that could go well with each other in Alabama’s offense and keep defenses on their toes, as Saban elaborated on what Niblack could bring to the table.

“But definitely a guy we think can be a weapon for us on offense and he made a couple good plays in the last game and hopefully we can build on that,” Saban said.

The young Niblack will have his next opportunity to make his presence felt this weekend as, as Alabama opens up their SEC schedule at home versus Vanderbilt.