Five-star guard J.D. Davison announced his commitment to Alabama on Saturday, giving Nate Oats his first five-star recruit since taking over in Tuscaloosa.
Davison chose the Crimson Tide over Auburn, LSU, Memphis, Michigan and Kansas.
Davison, a 6-foot-2 point guard from Calhoun High School (Alabama), had been the top target for in-state Alabama for most of the 2021 recruiting cycle. Oats and the Crimson Tide hosted him on campus and also went to see him in the winter shortly before the pandemic shut down in-person recruiting.
Davison’s recruitment skyrocketed in the spring, with Kansas, Florida State, LSU and Louisville all extending offers. But down the stretch, it was a battle between Auburn and Alabama, the two in-state schools that had pursued him the longest, with the Crimson Tide ultimately winning out.
The No. 14 prospect in the class of 2021, Davison is ranked as the No. 2 point guard in the country. He earned Gatorade Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors in Alabama last season, averaging 33.4 points, 12.0 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 6.0 steals. He led Calhoun to the Class 2A state championship, hitting a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in the championship game.
Davison is the first five-star recruit for Oats since taking over at Alabama in 2019, and the first five-star prospect to commit to the Crimson Tide since guards Collin Sexton and John Petty headed to Tuscaloosa in 2017.
He’s the second commitment in the past week for Alabama, following four-star wing Jusaun Holt. Alabama is still in the mix for a number of ESPN 100 prospects, including Charles Bediako and Moussa Diabate.
