Tommy Rees has done a lot with tight ends throughout his career. Alabama football’s new offensive coordinator made them a key part of his offense at Notre Dame, before heading to Tuscaloosa this offseason.

Nick Saban doesn’t let his coordinators make wholesale changes on offense, so before Alabama’s season opener against Middle Tennessee State, it was largely unknown how big a role that would play. To answer the question, the tight ends looked excellent against the Blue Raiders.

Saban praised the position after the game.

“That group is, I think, much better than we’ve had in the last couple years,” Saban said. “We’ve had to play an offensive tackle at tight end to be able to do some of the things that we’re doing now. So I’m pleased with the progress that group has made and hopefully that will help us in the future.”

Notable among the tight ends was Amari Niblack. The sophomore finished the game with two catches for 49 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown snag, one of quarterback Jalen Milroe’s three touchdown passes.

“Amari is a really nice pass receiver,” Saban said. Had a really nice catch down the middle today. He’s improved his blocking.”

The blocking was Niblack’s question mark entering the 2023 season. He came to Alabama after spending most of his high school career not doing much of it.

He’s also slimmer than many tight ends, weighing 233 pounds. Combined with his 6-foot-4 frame, and he doesn’t exactly look the part of a bruising run blocker.

But on Saturday, he made it happen. On one of Milroe’s touchdown runs, Niblack was the one putting the final defender with a chance to stop the quarterback into the grass.

Saban also had nice things to say about the rest of the room, including CJ Dippre, Danny Lewis Jr. and Robbie Ouzts. Dippre, a Maryland transfer, was the only other tight end with a catch, grabbing one ball for five yards.

The tight ends also earned kind words from offensive teammate Jermaine Burton.

“One thing I am proud of them on is their communication,” Burton said after the game. “They’ve gotten extremely good on communication… When you have a good connection between the tight end and receivers than it really is a more fluid game because there can really be lot of problems when the connection is bad, telling who is on or off (the ball), it can cause flags, so I really am proud of those guys for handling everything well.”

Alabama will be back in action next week against Texas.

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