Amari Niblack is officially moving on, and if you read his farewell note closely, he's moving on from Texas twice.
The former Longhorns tight end announced he's entering the NFL Draft, ending a college career that bounced through Alabama, Texas, and Texas A&M.
But the most telling part of the announcement wasn’t the "thank God" opener or the draft declaration; it was what he didn't say.
Niblack made sure to thank Alabama and Texas A&M for shaping him. Texas? Not a mention. No shoutout. No "grateful for the opportunity." Just a clean skip like Austin was a layover he'd rather forget.
Niblack's path has been anything but typical.
He started at Alabama, where he showed early promise, totaling 21 catches for 342 yards across his time in Tuscaloosa. His best stretch came in 2023, when he posted career highs with 20 receptions for 327 yards and looked like a tight end who could eventually become a matchup problem.
That season helped launch him to the Forty Acres, where expectations were real.
Texas brought him in as a potential weapon, but the fit never clicked. Niblack struggled to carve out a defined role and finished his lone season in Austin with just five catches for 33 yards, with an average of 6.6 yards per reception, which tells you he wasn't being used as a vertical threat or a field-stretcher.
He fell behind on the depth chart, and by the time the season was over, he was already hunting for a reset.
That reset took him to College Station for 2025. Different scheme, same story. Niblack again finished with five catches, this time for 69 yards. Slightly more production, slightly more juice after the catch, but the same bottom line: he never separated himself enough to become a featured piece.
In fact, it marked the third time in four seasons that he ended a year under 70 receiving yards.
And that's the rub as he heads into the draft process. Scouts are going to be forced to answer a brutal question. Was the 2023 Alabama tape the real Amari Niblack, or was it simply the best moment in a career defined by being almost something?
The tools are intriguing enough that three SEC programs took swings on him. That matters. But NFL teams aren't drafting resumes - they're drafting projection, reliability, and traits that pop when the lights are brightest.
Niblack's challenge over the next few months is simple ... convince evaluators that his flashes are more than highlights and that he can offer more than depth-chart potential.
As for Texas, the silence in his message will do what silence always does: start conversations. There's never been public reporting of a feud with the Longhorns' staff, but skipping an entire program in your goodbye isn't accidental. It's a choice, and it makes his Austin chapter feel less like a stepping stone and more like an exit he couldn’t wait to take.
Now he's headed to the next level, hoping the league sees a player worth developing, whether his college career ever lived up to its potential or not.