Lacey cleared, eligible to play

A day after Trevor Lacey enrolled in the University of Alabama and began taking classes, he has been officially cleared by the NCAA and is now eligible to play for the Crimson Tide this season.

Lacey, a five-star guard who signed in May, chose Alabama over elite programs like Kansas and Kentucky. However, the Huntsville native had to do some work on his ACT score and GPA before he could qualify.

"He's been doing a lot of studying, and that's a good thing," Lacey's head coach Jack Doss said. "He didn't fail anything. He just had to increase his GPA, and that was a neat thing to see how hard he studied. On his ACT, he worked hard with a lady and she had a guy that made a 36 on the ACT come in and work with him on his math.

"It's a nice success story. He's certainly excited about being at the University of Alabama, and I think he can do some great things there. We're certainly proud of him."

Throughout the process, Lacey was confident that the could do what he needed to do in order to qualify, but even then, there's always some uncertainty because of previous players who didn't get in.

"He had done his work, but you hear about the Alfy Hill's and things like that, and you never know," Doss said. "I felt confident but not overly confident because I've kept up with Alabama's recruiting, and some of them who thought they were going to be in didn't make it. Until you get cleared, you always have a little doubt."

With Lacey on board, the Crimson Tide has a top five recruiting class coming in to team up with the three returning starters, JaMychal Green, Tony Mitchell and Trevor Releford.

As a senior at Butler High School, Lacey averaged 31 points per game and led the Rebels to a Class 4A state championship.

"Winning is engrained in Trevor," Doss said. "He won a state championship as a ninth grader and was MVP over Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins. He just has that type of mindset that he's so smart on how to win and pressure doesn't get to him. He's just going to make the people around him that much better.

"It's exciting for him to have the possibility of leading (Alabama) to the Final Four, where they haven't been. I know he's talked about it a number of times, and that's his goal."