Alabama forward Riley Norris

Riley Norris will officially return to Alabama for a fifth season.

The senior forward announced the NCAA has approved a medical hardship waiver, granting him an additional year of eligibility for the Crimson Tide basketball teams’ 2018-19 season.

“I am back at 100% and feeling as good as I have felt in a long time,” Norris said in an Instagram post. “I’ve heard a lot of questions and speculation about my future, so I want to let Bama Nation know that I will be back in Tuscaloosa for my final season! Roll Tide!”

The Albertville, Ala., native played in only nine games this past season due to a lingering hip injury. He missed the first three games of the 2017-18 season due to the setback and underwent surgery in December to repair the injury, missing the rest of the year.

Including three games in 2017, Norris has started 57 games in an Alabama uniform. As a junior in 2016-17, he played in 34 contests and made 27 starts while ranking third in scoring (9.0), 3-point field goal percentage (.333) and minutes per game (27.3). The 6-foot-7 forward also led the Crimson Tide in 3-point field goals made (47) and attempted (141).

With Norris’ expected return, Alabama will have 10 scholarship players for the 2018-19 season.

That’s with the announced transfers of Braxton Key and Ar'Mond Davis and the departure of freshman point guard Collin Sexton for the 2018 NBA Draft. The Tide also signed three players in its 2018 class -- guards Jared Butler and Diante Wood and center Javian Fleming -- giving it 13 scholarship players. That meets the NCAA’s 13-player scholarship limit.

He will have more to say about it later Monday night at the men’s basketball team’s annual banquet, but having Norris’ leadership and experience as a would-be fifth-year senior will be warmly-received news to soon-to-be fourth-year head coach Avery Johnson.

“He understands the passion and attention to detail must be needed to be successful,” Johnson said of Norris last season. “... Riley can basically deliver our message to the players like no one else because he’s been in it, he’s played in some tough games with us over the last two years.”

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