College Sports

William Ming had his mind made up a long time ago, but Tuesday, he finally made his intentions known as the Athens High defensive end publicly committed to Alabama.

"I think Coach (Nick) Saban has everything headed in the right direction," Ming said. "They had a great recruiting class and it's always been my dream to play at Alabama."

Ming chose the Tide over LSU, Auburn, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Georgia. He traveled to Tuscaloosa on Tuesday to inform Saban face-to-face. After the meeting, Ming said that Saban gave him a hug and told the 6-foot-4, 265-pound Ming that he made the right decision.

"I had always been thinking about it and I decided that I wanted to commit (Tuesday)," Ming said. "I don't really know the date of when I made the choice, but Alabama has always been my favorite."

During the spring recruiting season, Ming garnered national attention when it was reported that Saban used video conferencing to talk with Ming in the Athens High computer lab. A new rule instituted this past season prevented head coaches from traveling off campus to visit recruits during the spring.

"At the end of the day it was going to take someone coming in and showing that they had a lot more to offer than Alabama," Athens coach Allen Creasy said. "When you get to that level, all the schools have good things to offer, but you can't say one is better than the other. It is where you feel most at home and William thought Alabama was best for him."

A four-star recruit according to both Rivals.com and Scout.com, Ming is the 10th player to publicly commit to Alabama for its 2009 recruiting class. Faith Academy defensive back Gerald West, a three-star recruit according to both Scout and Rivals, also publicly committed Tuesday.

In 2007 Ming made 67 tackles, 17 of which were for losses including five sacks.