This past winter, after Josh Niblett had wrapped up his fourth season as the head football coach at Gainesville (Georgia) High School, he was asked a few times if he’d ever consider coaching in college.
“I said, ‘Look man, I feel like thatap kind of passed me by now,” he said.
Colorado head coach Deion Sanders disagreed. He called Niblett and offered an opportunity to join the Buffaloes’ staff and coach tight ends and Niblett accepted, arriving at CU in January.
“Itap amazing what God will do for you if you’ll just lock in and focus on where you’re at, trying to get better,” Niblett said after a recent spring practice. “Sometimes you’ve got to get comfortable in the uncomfortable and make the transition step out on faith and thatap what I’ve done.”
A former all-state quarterback in Alabama and a three-time letter winner at the University of Alabama (1993-95), Niblett came to CU after 26 seasons as a head coach in the high school ranks.
Throughout his career at four different high schools in Alabama and Georgia, Niblett went 281-67 and he’s the only coach Alabama history to win seven state titles.
At CU, his role is different, but his desire to make an impact is not.
“Itap fantastic,” he said of his opportunity with the Buffs. “To God be the glory, just having this opportunity to, at a different level, to be able to impact. I mean, thatap kind of why I wake up every day to find ways to impact through the vessel of being able to have the game of football.
“I’m excited about being here. Itap an exciting time within this program also, so just looking for ways to help make an impact, to give us opportunities to win on and off the field.”
Although he’s not the head coach of an entire team, Niblett said, “I see myself as being the head coach of the tight end room. So, those guys are my responsibility on and off the field, how we perform, how we play. So, I take a lot of responsibility in that.”
Like all of the assistants, however, Niblett has opportunities to address the entire team and be a resource for anyone, regardless of their position. And, as a former head coach, he understands what Sanders would want in an assistant coach.
“I got that every day when I was the head coach from my staff (in high school),” he said. “So I want to be able to give Coach Prime that, give (offensive coordinator Brennan) Marion that, and all the other guys on staff and players that.”
Niblett, as well as others, will coach special teams, as well, but his main priority will be the tight end room. Itap a group that hasn’t had a big role in the past at CU, but could figure prominently in Marion’s newly-installed Go-Go offense.
“From the tight end position in this offense, you’ve got to have a pretty good skill set,” Niblett said. “I mean, you’ve got to be able to split out, be able to run routes, win some one-on-one matchups, and then you’ve got to be able to play within the core, whether you’re in a hand-down in the dirt or whether you’re in a hybrid position.
“So, your football IQ’s got to be higher, but also your skill level’s got to be higher and thatap exciting for our room.”
Itap a room led by returning starter Zach Atkins, as well as four other returners – Brady Kopetz, Zayne DeSouza, Corbin Laisure and Charlie Williams. The Buffs added transfer Fisher Clements, from Northern Colorado, as well.
“The thing we talk about in our room is we want to figure out what our deficiencies are, what our strengths are,” Niblett said. “So, every day we show up we’re trying to find a better way to continue to take our strengths to another level and then whatever we need to do better, then itap my job to help put a plan together for them so we have a process and a system to get them to where they want to be.”
For Niblett, Boulder has become a place he wants to be, even if it is very different from the South, where he’s spent nearly his entire life.
“It has been an adjustment,” he said. “But I tell you what, the weather here’s been better than I would have ever probably imagined it was going to be. … Itap so beautiful here, the landscape’s beautiful.”
