Avery Johnson has done a tremendous job with the Alabama Crimson Tide in his first season there as head coach. Alabama came into the season with very low expectations, yet Johnson has gotten them into the conversation for an at-large NCAA tournament bid. With less than a week remaining in the regular season, Alabama may be on the outside looking in but the program seems to be headed in the right direction.
A big part of Alabama moving in the right direction, along with its overachieving play this season, is its recruiting. Johnson has done a great job building up his first class as he had commitments from three different top 100 prospects. The headliner of Alabama's 2016 recruiting class was five-star shooting guard Terrance Ferguson, but he never signed his letter of intent.
After Ferguson decided to not sign with Alabama during the early signing period there was some concern over whether his commitment to the Crimson Tide was solid. Now Ferguson has officially backed off his commitment to Alabama and will reopen his recruitment. Ferguson is ranked as the 13th best recruit in the nation and the fourth best shooting guard. The 6-foot-5 guard was the highest ranked recruit to commit to Alabama since 2008.
Ferguson made it clear that he is still considering going to Alabama for next year, but the McDonald's All-American is also now considering Kansas, Baylor, Maryland, Texas and Arizona. Ferguson is from Dallas, so Baylor has emerged as the early favorite to land him, but it seems as though his recruitment is wide open now.
Ferguson verbally commit to Alabama in August and took an official visit there in October. After the official visit Ferguson said he wouldn't sign because he wanted his whole family to be present when he did, but now that looks like it was just window dressing. Ferguson recently lost his grandmother, which played a big role in him reopening his recruitment, and that may be a reason for him to stay close to home.
This is a big blow to Alabama and Johnson as they were building a very good recruiting class centered on Ferguson. The good news is that even without Ferguson the Crimson Tide still has a top 50 2016 class with Braxton Key and Ar'Mond Davis, and it also still has a shot at Ferguson. It seems unlikely that Ferguson will re-commit to Alabama after de-committing, but there is a chance, albeit a slim one, and that's all the Crimson Tide could ask for now.
