Damon Payne on Alabama commitment: 'I couldn’t see myself anywhere else'

Damon Payne has had his mind set for a while now. The Rivals100 defensive lineman announced his commitment to Alabama over the weekend but has known he would eventually be suiting up in crimson and white for more than a year.

Payne first started leaning toward the Tide late last summer but decided to take a patient approach to his recruiting process in order to see if any other schools would appeal to him as much as Alabama. They didn’t. And after many months of evaluation, the prized lineman was finally ready to make his decision public.

“What made Alabama stand out really is that it just felt like home to me,” Payne said. “It’s a place where I see myself playing. It really stuck in my mind more than the other schools.”

“I already knew that Alabama was the school that I liked the most, but it just really settled in like this is the school I want to go to. I just couldn’t see myself anywhere else.”