re: 2018-19 Roster/Depth Chart breakdowns and updates

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After one season at Alabama, junior cornerback Saivion Smith will forego his final year of eligibility and enter the 2019 NFL Draft, he announced via Twitter on Saturday.

4WAY @Saivion_1k
#PathToTheDraft2019

3:11 PM · Jan 12, 2019

Smith, a junior college transfer, appeared in all 15 games and made 12 starts at cornerback for the Crimson Tide. The former LSU Tiger registered 60 tackles, five pass breakups and a team-high three interceptions, returning one of them for a touchdown against Arkansas State.

“Saivion has done a really nice job for us,” Alabama head coach Nick Saban said. “I think that when he focuses on what he’s supposed to do and has good eye control and plays with discipline, he plays extremely well. That has improved throughout the course of the year and that has been very helpful in helping him become a very good player and a very productive player for us.”

Alabama updated its online roster on RollTide.com following Friday’s draft announcements, so the four juniors that declared for the 2019 NFL Draft (Quinnen Williams, Jonah Williams, Josh Jacobs and Irv Smith Jr.), as well as the Crimson Tide’s departing seniors, were not listed. But neither was Smith, before showing up twice. Now he makes five early NFL draft entrants. Smith would have been a senior in 2019.

Alabama’s juniors have until Monday, Jan. 14, to declare for the draft. Players like Deionte Thompson, Mack Wilson and Anfernee Jennings haven’t made their intentions public. If they return, that’s three more starters back from the Crimson Tide’s 2018 defense, joining Trevon Diggs and Raekwon Davis in choosing to pass on the NFL draft and return to Tuscaloosa.

Should Thompson return, Alabama would lose only one starter from its secondary -- Smith. Players like Diggs, Xavier McKinney, Shyheim Carter and Patrick Surtain II will be back in 2019.

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