Before Deionte Thompson signed his paperwork for the NFL draft Jan. 12, Alabama made one final push to try and get the All-American safety to change his mind about turning pro.

It was a visit from strength and conditioning coach Scott Cochran, who stopped by Thompson’s apartment hoping to get Thompson to reconsider entering the draft.

It didn’t work.

Still, even without Thompson, there’s a lot of optimism and excitement at Alabama about this 2019 secondary led by Karl Scott and Charles Kelly, especially based on how the group has fared through the early portion of spring practice.

“It’s definitely different with (Thompson) not being there, not hearing his voice out there,” junior safety Xavier McKinney said. “But we’ve got great guys that are going to step up and kind of fill that role since we lost him.”

It’s a talented group of players led by two respected coaches.

With Steve Sarkisian wanting to coach quarterbacks in addition to being Alabama’s offensive coordinator, Nick Saban had the capability to instead add another coach to work with the secondary along with Scott, who is viewed as a rising star in the coaching world.

Saban was able to hire Kelly, an Alabama native and former Florida State defensive coordinator who has experience with the Tide defense from his time working under Jeremy Pruitt at Florida State and then at Tennessee last season.

“Both guys are bright football minds,” a 2018 Alabama staffer told AL.com. “Guys can go to that coach that coaches their specific position. That’s a good thing. You have a younger guy, a bright young guy that’s under 35 that relates well to players (Scott) and then you’ve got an older guy with a lot of experience (Kelly). It’s a nice mix.”

Scott, who got calls about jobs at Georgia and in the NFL this offseason per sources, will be the cornerbacks coach. Kelly, who turned down a defensive coordinator opportunity at Maryland prior to joining the Tide staff, will be Alabama’s associate defensive coordinator and safeties coach.

“Charles Kelly was a guy that I’ve oftentimes considered being a coordinator here,” Saban said. “I thought Pete (Golding) did a really good job last year and should be the (defensive) coordinator, but I also thought that Charles Kelly would be somebody who could do that because he’s been in our system with other people — Jeremy at Florida State, Jeremy again at Tennessee. That’s like having a coach that’s been on our staff in terms of knowledge and experience and terminology. I just thought he was the best coach, best recruiter. I thought it was really, really important that he’s an Alabama guy. ...

"I really felt like last year’s staff we really didn’t have that connection with some of those local folks like we’ve had in the past. I thought it was important to get somebody on our staff that had great relationships with a lot of people in our state. He checks all those boxes really well and is a great person and has done a really, really good job.”

Thompson is gone. So is Saivion Smith, who started 12 games at cornerback last season. However, Alabama returns several of its top defensive backs from last year, including two potential 2020 first-round draft picks (McKinney and cornerback Trevon Diggs), one of the top young cornerbacks in the nation (Patrick Surtain) and another promising second-year player who could end up starting at the cornerback spot opposite Surtain (Josh Jobe).

NFL sources have said that Diggs was putting himself in position to be a 2019 first-round draft pick prior to suffering a season-ending foot injury last October and — even though he missed the final nine games of the season — that his pre-injury tape was good enough that he may have still gone in the early rounds of the draft had he opted to turn pro. Word is that Diggs has been working at nickel back this spring with Surtain and Jobe at the two cornerback spots.

As great as Alabama’s wide receiver group is with Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, DeVonta Smith and Jaylen Waddle, word is that the combination of Diggs, Surtain and Jobe have been more than holding their own through these early spring practice sessions.

One of the biggest questions with the secondary is probably: Who will take over for Thompson as the starting safety next to McKinney? It will likely come down to senior Shyheim Carter, last year’s nickel back who is working back from offseason sports hernia surgery, and senior Jared Mayden, a 4.4 40 guy who took over as the Tide’s sixth defensive back after Diggs got hurt last season.

Either way, it’s going to make for a fun A-day matchup — Holmon Wiggins’ wide receiver crew that’s arguably the best receiver unit in the country against the group led by Scott and Kelly that has the potential to be one of the top secondaries Saban’s had at Alabama.

Matt Zenitz is an Alabama and Auburn reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mzenitz.