Tide now with 10 verbal pledges

Alabama landed four-star recruit DE William Ming, and a three-star DB Gerald West Tuesday. Ming is rated one of the top ten prospects in the state by Rivals.com. West is ranked the 18th best in the state by Rivals.com.

According to Scout.com, Ming held offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Ming is a 6’4” 250lb. DE from Athens High School. Ming told multiple media outlets that his heart was with the Tide.

West is a 5’11” corner with 4.4 speed from Mobile. West cited Saban’s experience coaching defensive backs as one of the reasons he committed to the Tide.

The Alabama commitment list as of July 22, 2008:
Four Star
DT D.J. Fluker
RB Trent Richardson
QB AJ McCarron
DE William Ming

Three Star
OL Chance Warmack
OL Darius McKeller
OL Kellen Williams
LB Mike Marrow
Two Star
One Star

20 thoughts on “Ming commits; West commits”

  1. Well, they may have “character issues”, but they sure as hell are a pair of gifted athletes.

    Oh, wait, they did receive an offer from The Alabama PolyTECHnic Institute!

    Welcome aboard!

  2. Hey Bama!
    It seems they had ACTUAL offers in hand from several “ELITE” schools. (oh and Auburn offered them also.)

  3. Tuberville definitely lost the war on character with these two guys.

    Maybe he didn’t pursuit them with force because he knew they lacked the common character needed to play for Bama Tech. Maybe he wasn’t the one who offered them a scholarship. What if it was Phil Marshall or Mr. Josh Moo?

    They can’t evaluate talent the way Tubs can. Tubs seen something in these kids, but when you don’t commit Tech, it’s because Tubs didn’t really want you. He wants recruiting competition, hence the reason he’s targeting powerhouses such as UAB and Georgia Southern.

  4. I cant wait to hear the Aubbo spin on this one.

    Lets see.
    1 Character
    2.Tubbs didnt want them.
    3. Stars dont matter.
    4 all of the above. over and over again.

    Tubs is phoning it in…..

  5. No excuses here…Yall beat us for two good players. And will probably beat us for more recruits that we want. Ive said it all along, Saban is a machine when it comes to recruiting. The character problems start at UAT after they arrive. I think The Saban hands out “get out of jail free” cards upon arrival. Problem is , there only good for one incarceration….Unless its a felony. Then if they are going to prison, then The Saban will promptly dismiss them from the team..Man hes a ballbuster aint he.

  6. I think I said this somewhere around here previously.
    CTT didnt have the best first year at Miami, Ole Miss, or Auburn as far as discipline went. So pointing out that Saban is coaching a bunch of thugs might be a bit premature. Give the guy at least a little time. He is starting his 2nd year at Bama.
    I am curious as to why there have been abslutely no problems whatsoever at Auburn. None, zero, zilch. Not even a loitering charge. Could the Coach who was legendary for his thugs at miami, finally have a trouble free team?

  7. Im not saying that you recruit thugs tmc…Im saying you develope thugs. And to bring up Miami is ludicrous. How long ago was that? 20 years? Not to mention it was freekin Miami. Im not saying that Auburn hasnt had or will have problems. Cause they have, and they will. But our problems are not comparable to UAs. Seriously, tmc1, You really have no concern over Sabans discipline system. Ive openly admitted that Tubbs recruiting could be better. Also that Saban was a model recuiter and Tubbs could take lessons. Maybe Saban can take discipline lessons from Tommy. We would both benefit.
    And do you seriously think yall are going 11-1? Surely you were joking. Lets hope you were , or you are on the same wavelength as Shane.

  8. Congrats on the commitments!!! I believe Ming to be the real deal. Don’t know a whole lot about West, except that he looks good on paper.

  9. Or could the coach have a deal with the Opelika/Auburn police?

    Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

    Don’t know. Just asking. 🙂

  10. Ballplay, what tmc1 was saying, if you’ll take the spin out of your ears, is that Tubby inherited trash at his first stops the same way Saban has at Alabama. Not one of the players he’s brought in have been the culprits of any problems. Now as soon as I say that, someone will step out of line. But for now, it’s all Shula’s boys who keep messing it up for everyone else. You went to school with bad apples just like I did. And there isn’t a thing you can do for them but wait until they’re gone. And that’s exactly what Saban is doing. He cares far more about the players than what anyone will give him credit for, and part of that care is grace, patience and every opportunity to right a ship headed for disaster. That’s what many of these guys lives are like. We just see jerseys and numbers. Saban sees their families, lives and futures if they don’t correct their course.

    So, again, call me when Saban’s recruits step out of line. Tubby doesn’t have problems because he has ten years of his “system” in place. Or the deal the the police…unlikely…but possible? You tell me.

  11. It is just so easy to blame Saban for everything from the crime rate to global warming.
    The truth is Saban can only tell the players the right thing to do. He cant do it for them. But from what I understand most of the uys he is recruiting are fine upstanding young men. Like William Ming.

  12. Intheknow…I see your point. But would you agree that he should have sent a message LAST YEAR? During the LAMO game would have been a great time. I know that yall know that a couple of players on the team should have been suspended. He didnt do it. And he lost a lot of respect toward the end of the year, not only from players , but from fans. And I realise that he is short on players, but what more important. Im naturally going to point out that T.T. suspended Blackman for 6 GAMES, year before last for a freekin P.I. charge. No more of a charge than any of the Legacy boys got. 6 GAMES !!!! And it worked . The kid seems to have turned it around. Saban is a good coach. Maybe its just bad timing,luck or whatever. But I know this, not near as many arrests happened when Shula was there.

  13. intheknow….Not flaming , but I thought Jeremy Elder was one of Sabans recruits. Why am I thinking that?

    tmc1 , Whats the deal with Ming? Has he been in trouble or something? Thats like the 4th sarcasm laden comment of that sort that Ive seen about him.

  14. shockingly, I’ll mostly agree with intheknow here. Saban did inherit a bunch of thugs from Shula, and it’s hard to control 85 kids at all hours of the day. I certainly haven’t forgotten about Clifton Robinson and DD Green, nor that freakin’ loudmouth Leonardo Carson. (Carson didn’t get arrested at AU, he just ran his mouth in the press.) I do place some blame on Saban for the amount of arrests, though. The numbers are pretty shocking. The thing that really blew me away about Saban was that he withdrew DJ Hall’s suspension at halftime, and then he threw Jeff Purinton under the bus in the process b/c the guy had already announced to the media that Hall was suspended for the game, and he wouldn’t vouch for Purinton. Saban really compromised his integrity there.

  15. NYC…What do you mean “questionable behavior” These boys are headed to Bama. They know they better get it straight or The Saban will bust there arses with a canoe paddle. And then make them say “Thank you sir, May I have another”.

  16. AUtards have always been quick to jump the gun on each of our new hires.

    In a matter of two years, Tuberville had just as much trouble out of just as many players at Alabama Tech as Saban has had at UA.

    Forgive me for calling you guys premature hypocrites, and I fully understand your sad state of inferiority complex forces you to take every feeble stab futile stab at a coach in transition, as you can while the opportunity is there, but give the guy at least three years to implement his system and such, then you can talk.

    I can rant and rave all day about Tuberville’s 1,001 flaws while coaching at Ole Miss and at Alabama Tech before his uprising in 2004, where his team cheated to remain eligible, but it would only be useless seeing how nothing is ever about Alabama Tech or Tuberville, but only about Saban and Alabama.

  17. Point is the cover up from a Barnie’s perspective is

    1. Tuberville didn’t truly want them.

    2. They have no character.

    3. Tuberville seen some kind of flaw that he doesn’t see in an athlete that NO OTHER COLLEGE wanted.

    They can’t admit coaches like Saban, Meyer, Richt, and Miles are far better recruiters than Tuberville. Tubs had his run in previous years because he had no in state competition against Mike Shula, who also had scholarship restrictions riding his back. Tubs was mediocre before this period, and you can disagree and deny the facts till you drop, but he won’t do very much with pee wee division talent either.

  18. they start blaming his failure to recruit actual talent on lack of class and character. bs us some more tuberville. he had his ass owned in recruiting before our sanctions and now he’s having his ass handed to him again. there’s no legitimate excuse or cover up. there’s only facts and the truth. that’s it.

    Count this as my signature:

  19. Ballplay, I don’t think I misspelled any words in my first post, so what did you not understand?

    I simply beat you guys to the punch by saying they obviously have character issues if Tuberville didn’t want them… Then I clarified that by adding Tuberville DID offer each of them a scholarship.

    So, obviously he seen something significant enough in these two guys, because being offered an Alabama PolyTECHnic Institute scholarship is a rare thing that only kids with superhuman abilities and impeccable character can receive.

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