HOOVER, Ala. -- Alabama returns five of its six defensive back starters from a season ago.

One of the players in position to claim the lone vacancy in the secondary received some high praise from Nick Saban on Wednesday at SEC Media Days at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham -- Wynfrey Hotel.

“Josh Jobe has made a tremendous amount of improvement and has matured very nicely,” Saban said. “And we view him as a guy that is a potential starter and a guy that is playing in a way that, throughout the spring, that we have confidence that if he’s a starter, he can be very successful, and we can be very successful with him playing corner for us.”

Jobe, a sophomore, impressed in the Crimson Tide’s spring practices a few months ago as he worked with the first-team defense at cornerback with Trevon Diggs and Patrick Surtain II getting reps at Star with Shyheim Carter limited by a sports hernia injury. In the A-Day Game to cap the spring, Jobe recorded four tackles and three pass breakups, further displaying his improvement.

As a true freshman in 2018, the 6-foot-1, 189-pound Jobe registered eight tackles during his 14 games of action, missing only the LSU contest. Saban trusted the freshman enough to throw him into the national championship game after starting corner Saivion Smith went down with an injury.

Alabama will have options in the secondary when fall camp opens in early August. Diggs and Surtain are back at cornerback, Carter can start at either Star or safety and Xavier McKinney and Jared Mayden are back at safety. All of those players are versatile, which allows the Tide to move players around and have options, and depending on what it does, Jobe could be in the equation.

Should the former Top100 recruit, per 247Sports, crack the starting lineup this fall, it will be a continuation of what UA fans saw to end the 2018 season and in the spring. And it will not be a surprise to his older teammates, on both sides of the ball, based on what they have witnessed this offseason.

“Josh is a very aggressive corner,” linebacker Dylan Moses said. “He has a lot of potential to be a really great corner. I see him being a leader one day.”

Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy added: “He’s a great DB. Very physical, very athletic, very fast. He’s been working a lot to be one of the top DBs, so he’s had a great offseason this year. I see him working toward that goal (of starting) every day in practice and working out, running. I see him out there working to that goal. I’m not sure how Coach Saban handles the defensive scheme or anything, but I see him working towards that.”

Contact Charlie Potter by 247Sports' personal messaging or on Twitter (@Charlie_Potter).

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