Stock Report: Alabama players trending up after 12 practices

We are just 16 days away from the start of the 2023 college football season. Position battles for Alabama are starting to come into focus with players making moves before Game 1 kicks off. As the Crimson Tide has roughly one week of preseason practices left, including its second closed scrimmage on Saturday, we take a look at five players that are currently trending up.

Terrion Arnold, CB

As you will soon read, Nick Saban said there is an ongoing battle at cornerback between Arnold and Louisiana transfer Trey Amos for the starting spot opposite Kool-Aid McKinstry, who is back and will undoubtedly be in the lineup for Game 1. But Arnold has put together a strong fall camp with the first defense, including last weekend’s scrimmage where he opened the closed workout with the ones and was a top standout during the game-like practice. Amos brings experience to Alabama’s cornerback group after three years with the Ragin’ Cajuns, but Arnold appeared in 11 games last fall, starting seven for the Crimson Tide. While competition will continue, the redshirt sophomore seems to be in a good spot roughly midway through the preseason.

“I think anybody that gets experience playing, which he got some experience last year, I think he’s much more confident,” Saban said. “I think he has a better understanding and probably a little more maturity about what he needs to do to go out there and perform well. And there’s competition at the position. He, Kool-Aid, Trey are all doing a pretty good job out there so I think that’s good for everybody in terms of their improvement as well.”

Jermaine Burton, WR

Burton might be a strange addition here to some after starting 12 games last season, his first in an Alabama uniform after transferring from Georgia. But the veteran wideout was somewhat of the forgotten man in the Tide’s receiver room this offseason with some of the younger guys back as well as the new additions. However, sources indicate Burton has had a strong preseason on the heels of an impressive summer. In last weekend’s scrimmage, Burton shined on a day that Saban pointed to too many drops by the position group. The second-year receiver led Alabama in receiving yards last year and should once again be a factor in the passing game, but he has seemingly approached the summer before his senior year with a mature mindset.

“Being around this team for the past year, I’ve just adapted off the atmosphere and environment,” Burton said. “I feel like really this environment of like this team really put me into my mode, which makes me just want to see nothing but success and want to work harder. The more I’ve been around these guys, the more I’ve become more driven and dedicated to them.

“… We all have different whys. It could be the same or our mom or our little brother or little sister or anybody. When you learn what your teammate is doing it for, it makes you go harder because now you know why they’re doing it.”

Jihaad Campbell, LB

Deontae Lawson is back after starting four games at inside linebacker this past season, but the Alabama defense will have one new first-teamer playing alongside him this fall. The Tide has a few options to choose from, but Campbell appears to be the leader in the clubhouse right now. Entering his second year in the program, Campbell has had a strong offseason, which kicked off with a spring where he split time with Trezmen Marshall and Shawn Murphy on the first-team defense while Lawson was sidelined. The sophomore has continued to see reps with the ones and has generated some positive buzz after a dozen practices. He will have to hold off Marshall, the Georgia transfer, but Campbell looks poised to take on a larger role this fall.

“I’m happy with the group,” Saban said. “Deontae Lawson played really good football when he played last year. He was injured a lot of the time. He sat out the spring, got his knee worked on a little bit. He’s had a good summer. He’s got leadership, he’s got a good understanding of the defense. Jihaad Campbell has made really good progress. We’ve got lots of competition at the position. I’m pleased with the way these guys are progressing. They’ve made a tremendous amount of progress.”

Amari Niblack, TE

Alabama added a transfer tight end to the roster with Maryland’s CJ Dippre joining the program in January, and while Dippre looks poised to make an immediate impact and others, like Robbie Ouzts and Danny Lewis, could also contribute, there is one player that Saban has described as a “mismatch” for opposing defenses on multiple occasions now. Niblack is going into his second year with the Tide and has made significant progress this offseason. He hauled in a touchdown in scrimmage No. 1 and caught some people’s attention over the weekend. Alabama has plenty of options at tight end and new offensive coordinator Tommy Rees has a history of getting that position group involved in the passing game. But few have Niblack’s skillset.

“He’s doing great,” Saban said. “He’s gotten bigger, he’s gotten stronger. He understands the offense a lot better. He is a mismatch player, to some degree, in the passing game, and he’s done a really good job. He was very productive in the first scrimmage. And he is blocking better, and I think that he can be an impact player for us if he continues to grow and progress. We’re excited about his future.”

Kadyn Proctor, OT

One of the top position battles entering fall camp was at left tackle, with Proctor competing with Elijah Pritchett, who spent the spring with the first-team offensive line. We saw Pritchett sustain a minor injury in the open practice, which led to an increase in reps with the ones for Proctor, and the true freshman opened Saturday’s closed scrimmage at left tackle with the first unit. That can always change, but we’ve seen some interesting experimentation from Alabama this week with Tyler Booker working at left guard beside Proctor rather than at right guard to the left of JC Latham. We’ll see if any of this sticks, but the 5-star freshman is, at the very least, in the mix for the starting left tackle job with a little more than two weeks before the opener.

“Kadyn’s been developing really well,” Booker said. “He has all the physical attributes that you want in an offensive lineman here at the University of Alabama. The thing with Kadyn, he just has to put the technique together. That’ll come along with camp. Fall camp is about development – physically, obviously, but we’re also developing a mindset that we’re going to run the ball on you and be dominant. We’re going to drop back and pass the ball and make sure that whoever’s back at quarterback is going untouched.

“We’re just trying to develop that mindset with Kadyn. He’s taking all the right strides toward being a contributor on this offensive line. It’s just going to take time to develop.”

*** Honorable mentions: Terrence Ferguson, Keanu Koht, DeVonta Smith

The post Stock Report: Alabama players trending up after 12 practices appeared first on On3.