Asher Allen became the third Bulldog to jump ship Tuesday, announcing his intentions to leave Athens and enter the NFL draft.

Allen, a junior corner from Tucker, joins now-departed quarterback Matthew Stafford and tailback Knowshon Moreno among the NFL hopefuls looking toward the end of April to decide their futures.

“I’m most definitely doing this for my family and for myself,” Allen said in his teleconference Tuesday. “I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. I’m trying to do the best for my family and going to the NFL will more than likely do that.”

Allen was arguably the best secondary player for a much-maligned Bulldog defense in 2008, totaling 53 tackles. He had no interceptions, but a large part of that can be contributed to opposing offenses throwing to the side of the field opposite him.

“With me coming back, playing your senior year to prepare to be one of the top cornerbacks in the draft was something I was pondering,” he said. “But really I need to try and make sure to get there.”

One of 13 Jim Thorpe Award semifinalists in 2008, Allen was reluctant to talk about the NFL Advisory Committee’s predicition of where he might be selected, but experts typically have him somewhere in the middle rounds of the draft.

“The risk to get hurt and injured and watch it all go away is so, so hard to overcome,” he said. “Or getting hurt and watching your stock go down. You have to put all that stuff into the equation.”

The move leaves Georgia’s secondary depleted and very inexperienced.

With Bryan Evans moving to safety and Ramarcus Brown graduating, it leaves the Bulldogs with senior Prince Miller and several players who saw only limited action this season.

Safety Reshad Jones, who will be a redshirt junior next season, announced his intentions to stay for another season Tuesday.