Alabama announces number changes for 2 key players

The Alabama Crimson Tide are making some last-minute jersey number changes ahead of Saturday’s season opener against Louisville.

On Friday, two number changes for key players — DB Saivion Smith and P Skyler DeLong — ahead of the first game.

As you can see in the tweet below, Smith will go from No. 8 to No. 4 and DeLong will go from No. 10 to No. 12:

Number changes before Game 1:

Saivion Smith from 8 to 4
Skyler DeLong from 10 to 12

That allows both players to play on special teams with Josh Jacobs and Ale Kaho and/or Mac Jones.

— Charlie Potter (@Charlie_Potter) August 31, 2018

These changes are primarily for special-teams reasons, so that DeLong and Smith can share the field with players like Ale Kaho (No. 10) and Josh Jacobs (No. 8) who wear their former jersey numbers.

Alabama’s game against Louisville kicks off at 8 p.m. Eastern time and can be seen ABC.