No major surprise here, but nevertheless. Per ESPN:
Alabama running back Mark Ingram and defensive end Marcell Dareus will announce at a news conference Friday that they plan to enter the NFL draft, multiple sources said Thursday.
Alabama wide receiver Julio Jones is likely to follow, though he has not decided yet, sources said.
The report on the news conference from Ingram and Dareus tomorrow should come as no surprise, as Friday has seemed like the day for a while now and we all knew those two were foregone conclusions from the beginning. I suppose there is still a bit of hope left for Julio, but I wouldn't be getting my expectations up. The good news is that nothing is being said on Barron and Upshaw, which is perhaps all we could have reasonably expected out of this process.
Update: Don Kausler, Jr. confirms that Dareus is gone, as per his legal guardian, but beyond that has a couple of interesting nuggets in his article on the subject:
Julio Jones' status is a little less certain. The junior wide receiver seems to be leaning toward turning pro, sources close to the team say, but some of the information from those sources is conflicting.
We'll see what happens, but I'm banking on the longer he stretches his decision out, the better the news is for 'Bama. He has already received a first round grade from the NFL Draft Advisory Committee earlier in the week, and he has met with Saban on the subject, so the longer it takes I think the more likely it is that he is legitimately torn on the subject and that he may possibly come back.
Another pro possibility is junior wide receiver Marquis Maze, according to sources close to the team.
Interesting that this is the first time I've seen this in any major print publication, but this one has been floating for a while now. He mentioned something on his Facebook page about leaving early a few weeks back, and most dismissed it at the time, and honestly we never discussed it here on RBR because (1) it seemed unlikely, and (2) I'm not really the biggest fan of posting personal Facebook / Twitter updates unless we're making fun of rival fans / players because, let's be honest, that's a bit stalker-ish. Apparently, though, there may legitimately be something to it, so we'll see. I personally think it would be an absolutely terrible decision on his part, but he certainly wouldn't be the first or last college player to make a poor decision regarding the NFL Draft.