'He's a stud': Meet Collin Sexton, the headliner of the top recruiting class in Alabama history

Collin Sexton

Collin Sexton (No. 8) is the No. 7 overall prospect in this year's recruiting class, according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings.

(USA Basketball)

Three weeks before Collin Sexton committed to Alabama, Mo Williams was inside Coleman Coliseum with a group of reporters.

While discussing the Crimson Tide's present and future, the former Alabama star and longtime NBA player brought up Sexton.

"If you get that kid, that would be huge," Williams said. "I think that would take us over the top and get us to the next level. ... He can really turn this program around make us a top-10 team."

Sexton is that good and continues to show why landing him was so significant for Alabama.

The five-star point guard from Pebblebrook High School in Georgia seemingly does something special every game.

There was the 39 points he scored against IMG Academy and fellow five-star point guard Trevon Duval, the 53 points and 11 3-pointers he put up on his senior night and his game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer in Pebblebrook's regional championship game.

Most recently, Sexton scored 40 points to guide Pebblebrook to a win in the second round of the state playoffs on Thursday.

"He's a stud," Tide coach Avery Johnson said. "He has that Kyrie Irving type of a game -- 6-1, 6-2, good body, can do it all."

Sexton and Pebblebrook coach George Washington are in constant contact with Alabama, particularly assistant Antoine Pettway.

Pettway, who was key in landing Sexton over Kansas and other big name programs, usually offers the same feedback after games: "That's my guy."

***

Alabama was among the first high-major programs to start recruiting Sexton.

It started with Pettway, a former Tide standout point guard, noticing Sexton and his scoring ability at a 2015 camp in Tuscaloosa, back when Sexton was still unranked and unknown to many programs around the country.

Washington remembers hearing Pettway tell Johnson during the camp, "Coach, this guy's doing stuff college guys are doing. He's a gifted scorer."

Johnson has since talked about Sexton's "knack" for slashing through a defense and drawing fouls. Alabama saw that ability as early as that 2015 camp.

"At team camp, they don't want to call fouls a lot, but they had to because that's just what he does," Washington said.

After that camp, Pettway and Johnson were regulars at Sexton's AAU games that summer, continuing to evaluate and continuing to build a relationship with Sexton and his family.

"Pettway followed him around that whole summer," Washington said. "If Collin was playing, you'd look up and see Pettway and Avery, even at (an under-16 AAU game). There's not a lot of Division I coaches at the high-major level that go to 16U games, especially when the guy's not even ranked. But I'd be there and would look up and you'd see Pettway and them over there smiling and pointing and saying, 'That's my guy. That's my guy.'"

***

Sexton broke out nationally Dec. 30, 2015 during a tournament in California.

Before a game against Bishop O'Dowd, Washington and a Pebblebrook assistant told Sexton, "All the writers are here. Nobody knows about you. Tonight's the night you make sure everybody writes about you."

Sexton was a facilitator in the first half. Then, coming out of the halftime locker room, Washington told Sexton, "Collin, now you've got to put on a scoring clinic."

He did, scoring most of his 37 points in the second half during a 74-48 win.

Rivals national basketball analyst Eric Bossi tweeted during that game, "Collin Sexton is just destroying Bishop O'Dowd right now. Raining jumpers, dropping dimes, locking up & talking high level trash."

After averaging 29 points per game as a junior, Sexton was averaging 34 points per game this season heading into his 40-point performance last Thursday, according to Washington.

Adding him is a big deal for an Alabama team currently lacking a dynamic, go-to scorer. The Tide doesn't have anyone averaging more than 12 points per game and is last in the SEC with an average of just 68.9 points per game.

Sexton should also help with two other problem areas -- 3-point shooting and free throws.

Sexton is making more than 50 percent of his 3-point attempts and nearly 90 percent of his free throws, per Washington.

Collin Sexton (1) is arguably the top scorer in this year's recruiting class.

The success this season comes after Sexton posted big numbers on both the AAU circuit and at the under-17 world championships in Spain.

The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) was full of highly-ranked players such as five-star forward Michael Porter Jr., the No. 2 overall player in this year's class according to the 247Sports Composite Rankings. Sexton averaged 31.7 points per game in the EYBL. No one else averaged more than 22.8.

An indicator of Sexton's "knack" for getting to the free throw line: His 212 free throw attempts were 76 more than anyone else in the league. He made 86 percent of them.

Sexton was then MVP of the under-17 world championships, leading the United States to a gold medal. He averaged 17 points, 4.2 assists, four rebounds and 1.7 steals despite not even starting and only playing 18.9 minutes per game.

Later in the summer, Sexton helped NBA star point guard Chris Paul's AAU team win a tournament in Las Vegas.

"Collin is a great player," Paul told AL.com. "He's an unbelievable competitor, a great defender, and he led the EYBL in scoring. I can't wait to watch him play at Alabama. I think his game will translate great to the college level."

***

So why Alabama? Why would one of the top players in the nation go to a school that's only made the NCAA tournament once since 2006?

A big factor was the Sexton family's relationship with Pettway and Johnson.

"We had a lot of in-home visits, and Collin's mother would make the comment after a lot of in-home visits, 'That coach doesn't know my family. They don't know us,'" Washington said. "When coaches came in with videos and laptops and all that setup, that's not their family. When coach Johnson and them did their in-home visits, they sat down in the living room and just had conversation with them. And I think one thing that was big to their family was how Alabama just felt like home to them. Every time they went down there, it just felt like home. It wasn't, hey, we're going to roll out the red carpet for you and all this crazy stuff. It was just honest, and they fell in love with the family environment."

Sexton has talked to Washington a lot about how great he thinks this Alabama recruiting class can be, a group that also includes top-30 player John Petty, four-star forward Alex Reese, versatile 6-foot-7 left-handed shooting guard Herb Jones and three-star center Galin Smith.

Each player brings something different to the table, Sexton has said. And Sexton tells Washington regularly that Jones is "the X-factor" because of his ability to play at least three different positions.

Sexton also feels that 6-foot-10 forward Daniel Giddens, an Ohio State transfer who was a top-50 recruit, is going to be a difference-maker for the Tide.

"They feel like they've got a chance to do something really special," Washington said.

***

Since shortly after being hired, Johnson has discussed the importance of adding players talented enough to be one-and-done, to be able to turn pro and be a high draft pick after one season of college.

Sexton is that type of player.

While discussing Sexton at the preseason event, Mo Williams brought up his arrival at Alabama in 2001.

After going six straight years without making the NCAA tournament, the Tide went a combined 44-20 during Williams' two years on campus, made two straight NCAA tournaments and was ranked as high as No. 1 in the country.

Sexton can be that type of difference-maker, Williams said.

Washington spoke to Pettway after Pebblebrook's regional championship game, the one during which Sexton hit the game-tying 3 at the buzzer before later sealing the win with an emphatic two-handed dunk as time expired in overtime.

Pettway had already seen video of the game-tying 3 prior to the conversation.

"My guy. He did it," Pettway told Washington.

"Yeah, Pettway," Washington responded. "He's special."

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