Dont'a Hightower has committed to play football for the Crimson Tide.

Hightower is a highly-touted prospect out of central Tennessee -- more specifically Lewsiburg -- and chose the Crimson Tide over Vanderbilt. The 6'3 and 248 pound Hightower is listed as a four-star recruit by both major recruiting services, and he sports written offers from the likes of Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee, South Carolina, Ole Miss, and others. Academics played a major role in his collegiate decision, as Hightower ultimately chose the Tide over Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, two schools more noted for their strengths in the classroom than on the gridiron.

As a standout for Marshall County High School, Hightower essentially does a little of everything. At times he has played tailback, such as in his sophomore season when he rushed for over 1,000 yards. And he's also played on defense as a linebacker / end and also had a lot of success catching the football as a tight end. At Alabama, we are apparently going to have him play at inside linebacker, but with his size he could possibly end up at the Jack position, or at defensive end.

Hightower's commitment marks the twelfth commitment to-date for the Tide that is rated as four-stars or higher by the two major recruiting services. It seems that in all likelihood we will sign as many four-star or higher rated prospects -- likely around sixteen or so -- in this one year alone than we did in the previous four years combined.

Update [2007-11-14 11:29:58 by outsidethesidelines]:

I searched for a bit and finally found his high school statistics on the year. At the moment he has ran for 475 yards off of just 45 carries (10.5 yards per carry), and has also had 209 receiving yards off of nine catches (23.2 yards per catch). On the defensive side of the ball, he has piled up 114 tackles, 14 sacks, 5 interceptions, and 5 forced fumbles.