Stanford announced Friday afternoon that junior cornerback Paulson Adebo will not enter the NFL draft, opting to stay on The Farm for his senior year. Adebo was a preseason All-American before his junior season after earning that same recognition after an outstanding sophomore season during which he broke a school record for passes defended.

Adebo had a rough start to his junior season against UCF and USC in particular before rebounding during the middle of the season. An injury forced him to miss the last two games of the season and may have been a factor in his decision to delay going the professional route if he wasn't able to participate in workouts and the NFL combine.

He had four interceptions last season and 10 pass breakups and has 38 passes defended and eight interceptions in his career. He has been named first team All Pac-12 each of the past two seasons and has started 21 games.

Adebo's decision strengthens a defensive back unit that is again expected to rely on underclassmen to play major roles next season.

Freshman Kyu Blu Kelly won the starting job during the season, replacing Obi Eboh, and showed flashes of great physical skill. Freshman Jonathan McGill took over at nickel and sophomore Kendall Williamson seems set at strong safety. Senior Malik Antoine will be back for his fifth year at free safety.

There should still be a lot of competition, though, for the Cardinal and especially at safety, where Stanford got little playmaking from anyone they rotated into games. Stanford is bringing in safeties Alaka'i Gilman and Ayden Hector and redshirt freshman Nicolas Toomer practiced at safety and corner last year, so he could be an option as well.

Adebo is locked in at one cornerback spot and Kelly presumably has a big lead to start at the other spot. In terms of physical ability that duo is one of the better ones in recent years for the Cardinal defense on the perimeter.