Niblack ought to assist in supplanting Sanders’ passing game skills while Jeff Banks endeavors to induce improved blocking from the position.
The task facing Texas Longhorns tight ends coach Jeff Banks this offseason is straightforward: replace Ja’Tavion Sanders, perhaps the greatest tight end in school history, who entered the 2024 NFL Draft early after amassing 99 receptions for 1,295 yards and seven touchdowns in his two seasons as a starter for the Longhorns.
Three of Niblack’s four missed tackles forced this season came from just one play.
Because of his quickness, Niblack presents a challenge to linebackers and some safeties in Sarkisian’s scheme. Following a year spent waiting in line as an in-line tight or in the slot
finish with a very equal allocation between the two positions, Niblack was rated as a below-average run defender who would profit from taking over Sanders’ H-back position from the previous campaign.
RTInitially quiet in the winter transfer window, Sarkisian and Banks were tasked with taking Sanders’ receiving threat on. However, they acted quickly when Alabama tight end Amari Niblack joined the portal after Nick Saban’s resignation. Niblack had to make a decision immediately, so he visited Austin and signed with the Longhorns without delay.
Sarkisian had no connection to Niblack, a Florida prospect in the 2022 recruiting class that Alabama assessed early and signed before a breakout senior, in contrast to some of the prior Alabama transfer portal targetsseason propelled him into the 247Sports rankings’ top 100 nationwide.
Niblack, a 6’4 and 231-pound wide receiver who moves like one, was built like an oversized wide out and contributed to the Crimson Tide last season with 20 receptions for 327 yards and four touchdowns as a true sophomore. The Texas coaching staff was drawn to one of those touchdowns, a 39-yarder that showcased Niblack’s exceptional athleticism and many Longhorns missed tackles.Prior to the coaching change, Sanders was the star of Tom Herman’s recruiting class, ranking as the No. 1 athlete and the No. 30 player overall in the 2021 recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite. This left Steve Sarkisian and his staff to decide how to use the enormously talented playera gifted two-way player. After playing wide receiver at Denton Ryan, Sanders was enamored with Sarkisian’s offense. He made the decision to stick with the position, even though his family thought playing defense would have been a better option during the 2021 season, when Banks gave him a lot of intense coaching to help him improve as a blocker and he primarily played on the field goal unit on special teams.
Eager to make an impact as a sophomore, Sanders dispelled all skeptics with a standout year that earned him a spot on the first team of the Big 12, setting a school record for receptions by a tight end with 54 and placing him second in school history with 613 receiving yards.
With a strong start in 2023, Sanders was ready to add on that accomplishment after receiving five passes fora career-long 50-yard reception in the upset victory over Alabama in Tuscaloosa, with a total of 114 yards. For a Texas tight end, it was the first 100-yard receiving performance since Jermichael Finley against Oklahoma in 2007. Among his five receptions for 110 yards the next week against Baylor, Sanders had one for 49 yards. However, Sanders’ bright start was derailed by an ankle injury sustained in the first quarter of a victory over Kansas. Despite persevering through the injury, Sanders’ output as a run blocker and in the passing game declined, even though he still managed eight receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown in the Big 12 Championship game victory over Oklahoma State in Arlington.
Despite spending a season growing and more thanDespite missing half of the season due to an ankle injury, Sanders concluded his career at Texas as the top tight end in school history in terms of career receptions, career receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns.
The decision was also made necessary by the return of Gunnar Helm, a rising senior who has been the Longhorns’ main in-line tight end for the past two seasons. Helm put a lot of effort into improving his agility during the offseason, which helped the Colorado product post 14 receptions for 192 yards and two touchdowns. According to PFF, Helm’s grade as a blocker was 54.6 for pass blocking and 42.6 for run blocking, which is much lower than the average of 70.0. In his primary job as a blocker, Helm still has a lot of opportunity for growth, especially outside of the passing game.
Malik Agbo, a rising redshirt sophomore who arrived in Austin to play gigantic tight end last season and has now lost about fifty pounds, is also returning to Texas.
Juan Davis, a twitchy athlete who has battled numerous ailments throughout his career, is one of the depth pieces. Davis is a rising senior. Davis joined the portal during the winter transfer window and then abruptly left it in a peculiar offseason blip, but Niblack’s signing poses a serious obstacle to Davis’s opportunity to get major playing time on offense for the first time in his collegiate career.
Additionally, Texas welcomes back rising redshirt freshman Will Randle, a teammate of quarterback Arch Manning who was more of a receiving threat in high school before needing to spend last year recovering from a knee injury. Spencer Shannon, a Santa Ana, California, native and Mater Dei product, was also used as a blocking tight end in high schoolthat brought an early end to his Isidore Newman career.
Jordan Washington, a 2024 signee and early enrollee who, in Sarkisian’s opinion, can run the full route tree and stretch the field vertically as a flex receiver because of his basketball background, which highlighted his length and ball abilities, is the wild card. Washington, who is listed at 6’4″ and 240 pounds, might immediately push Davis for the position of backup flex tight end.
The Texas tight ends could contribute more to the running game than the position room did in 2023 with some development from Niblack, Helm, and Agbo as blockers. Niblack, on the other hand, should lessen Sanders’ decline in the passing game by exchanging more explosive athleticism for some reliability on contested catches.