Year two of the Avery Johnson era in Tuscaloosa could not be off to a better start on the recruiting trail. The Crimson Tide landed two top 50 prospects on Thursday, first with five-star shooting guard Collin Sexton committing and later adding four-star wing John Petty, who is ranked the No. 5 shooting guard in the country by 247sports.
Alabama isn't known as a traditional powerhouse in basketball, but Johnson and staff are recruiting at an elite level that even Nick Saban would applaud.
"I felt like Avery Johnson, he was just a great coach," Sexton said on ESPNU. "Always, everybody down there had great energy. Communication was great, and they were on me for a long, long time."
Petty, another highly touted guard, is a Huntsville, Alabama, native who chose Alabama over Kentucky.
"What drew me in was the way that they welcomed me in when I came on my visit,"Petty said at his halftime commitment ceremony. "Just the family and the way they did everything, they just looked after me."
Alabama's 2017 recruiting class currently ranks No. 1 in the SEC and No. 3 in the country behind Arizona and Washington.