The UA Athletic Department released an official statement to media outlets this morning finally confirming what has been rumored for a few weeks now: 5-star Alabama basketball signee Trevor Lacey has been officially cleared by the NCAA to compete this season.
Lacey was the crown jewel in Anthony Grant's top-five recruiting class, choosing the Tide over the likes of Kentucky and Kansas after a long and eventful recruiting process that lasted into May of this year.
Several reports surfaced in recent weeks, citing both Lacey and his high school coach, saying that he had met the necessary requirements by both re-taking his ACT and re-taking some high school courses this summer. However, after those reports were published in various media outlets, including right here at RBR, UA released a statement saying he had yet to be officially cleared.
The drama continued right up until yesterday, when it was reported that Lacey was enrolled at UA and was attending classes on the first day of the semester, but had still not yet been cleared by the NCAA.
All of the speculation was put to rest this morning, though, as Lacey is now all clear to join his teammates to compete in the upcoming season. All six of Anthony Grant's 2011 signees are now cleared and enrolled, a nice punctuation for one of the nation's top five recruiting classes.
Basketball practice will open in October, with the Tide widely expected to make appearances in national preseason polls and to be chosen as an SEC title contender. Alabama returns its top three players from a year ago, in addition to three reserves and the six highly-regarded signees.
We'll end with this money quote from Lacey's high school coach, via TideSports.com:
"It's exciting for him to have the possibility of leading (Alabama) to the Final Four, where they haven't been. I know he's talked about it a number of times, and that's his goal."