Alabama Football Recruiting: Crimson Tide receives pledge from top-75 linebacker

He cancelled his visit to Ohio State’s spring game in order to commit to Alabama, so I think this guy is already shaping up to be a good one.

Per 247:

The 6-foot-0 and 230-pound [Shane] Lee has over two dozen scholarship offers. His list includes Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Florida State, LSU, Penn State, Michigan State, UCLA, Michigan, Virginia Tech, Maryland, West Virginia, Rutgers and North Carolina.

Lee is a 4-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite. He is the country’s No. 61 overall prospect, the No. 3 inside linebacker, and the No. 1 prospect in Maryland.

In the 2018 class, Alabama stocked up on outside linebackers and edge rushers, but the shenanigans of Quay Walker led to a last second scramble to get only one true inside linebacker— 3 star Jaylen Moody. As such, a commitment from such a highly ranked bowling ball is a good start to building future depth on the inside.

In an interview with BamaOnline, Lee broke down his decision process for choosing Alabama:

“It just felt like it was the right place and right time. I was down there for like three or four days, and just talking with my parents, we all seemed to be on the same page. Different conversations we’ve had with different people, it just solidified our thoughts and made us want to take the next step.”

“He kind of just explained to me what I was committing to,” Lee said. “The hard work, the willingness to get better, to be a student of the game, stuff like that.”

“Just because everything that it stands for,” Lee said of why Alabama. “Coach Saban talked about hard work and really developing you as a person and a football player. Just the fact that winning is an expectation, not a goal. It’s that kind of environment. You’re either going to get better or you’re not going to be there anymore. I just liked that aspect of it.”

After last year’s slow start to recruiting, Alabama is now up to 8 commitments, only two months in. All are four- or five-star players, and 6 of the 8 are in the top 150 in the nation. You can bet Saban isn’t going to be burned by the Early Signing Day in 2018-2019.

Roll Tide

UPDATE: Mike Locksley “locked” this one down. #SorryNotSorry (CB969)