TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Trevon Diggs is entering his second year at cornerback.

And Nick Saban is encouraged by the progress he’s seen from the rising junior. But there are still areas the Gaithersburg, Md., native and his teammates need to improve their games.

“I think he’s a lot more confident this year in terms of understanding what he’s supposed to do,” Saban said following Saturday’s second spring scrimmage. “I think as long as he stays focused and doesn’t, like, start just staring at the quarterback and not doing what he’s supposed to do -- a lot of these guys make a lot of plays with their eyes in high school.

“But when you’re playing man-to-man, you have to look at your man. You can’t cover your guy if you don’t look at him. So, that’s not the time to be making plays with your eyes. So, we continue to try to train our guys as to when you can make plays with your eyes and when you have to focus on the things you need to focus on to be able to do your job in that particular coverage or defense or pressure or whatever it is. That he’s gotten a lot better at. But every now and then, he’ll sort of revert back.

“As long as he stays focused on that, I’m very confident that he can be a very, very good player for us. I’m really kind of encouraged by the progress that he’s made.”

Able to practice all week after sustaining an ankle injury in Alabama’s March 29 practice, Diggs has worked at left cornerback during most of the media viewing periods this spring.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound junior is currently competing for one of the Crimson Tide’s pair of vacancies at corner this offseason. As a reserve in 2017, he registered six tackles and three pass breakups on UA’s defense on top of his return duties on special teams. There, Diggs returned 18 punts for 154 yards while bringing back two kickoffs for 74 yards.

After making the full-time move to defense last spring, Diggs has another opportunity to win a starting job in the secondary. But he, like a lot of players on the defensive side of the ball, must play with better eye discipline in their attempt to replace veteran contributors.

“We need to continue to improve, especially with some of our younger players who are not that experienced and still don’t have the sense of urgency that you need to be able to go out there and play when it comes to just doing my job,” Saban said in his opening statement Saturday. “I mean, everybody wants to look at the quarterback and make plays but they’re not necessarily doing what they’re supposed to do the way they’re supposed to do it.

“So, we have to keep working through that.”

For Diggs, though, the positives outweigh the negatives, and it’s not just his head coach that has been encouraged by his development. Redshirt junior safety Deionte Thompson sees it, too.

“Trevon is doing very well,” Thompson said. “He’s taking strides at every practice, and he has a couple more practices in the spring to get under his belt to grow and adjust. He’ll be fine.”

Diggs and Alabama will be back on the field Tuesday, April 17, for spring practice No. 13.

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