Alabama lands McDonald's All-American Devonta Pollard

Devonta PollardView full sizeFive-star forward Devonta Pollard has announced that he will play college basketball for Alabama. (Photo courtesy of 247Sports)

DEKALB, Mississippi - Alabama is the winner of the Devonta Pollard Sweepstakes.

The five-star basketball player, one of the nation's top small forward, announced his decision to play for the Crimson Tide at a news conference today at Kemper County High School.

Going more than two weeks past the deadline to sign a national letter of intent, Pollard picked Alabama over Texas, Georgetown and Missouri.

The 6-foot-7, 190-pound McDonald's All-American from Porterville, Miss., is the only player Alabama has gotten to date for its 2012 signing class, as coach Anthony Grant patiently took an all-or-nothing approach on the potential star. Grant has three scholarships available.

Pollard is ranked as the 22nd best player from the class of 2012 by Rivals.com and the 26th best player by 247Sports.com, which considers him the eighth-best small forward.

He will be joining a team that was 21-12 last season, which ended with a 58-57 loss to Creighton in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Alabama was making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2006. The Crimson Tide must replace two standout forwards in JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell.

Pollard will join a team that will feature, among others, a junior point guard in Trevor Releford and four players who played prominent roles as freshmen last season: guards Levi Randolph, Trevor Lacey and Rodney Cooper and forward Nick Jacobs.

Pollard averaged 23.8 points, 15.7 rebounds and 5.1 blocked shots last season as he led Kemper County to the state Class 3A championship.

Those accomplishments earned Pollard the Mr. Basketball award in Mississippi. He also was named the state's Gatorade Player of the Year and was the MVP of the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game.

Check out video highlights of Alabama's newest basketball signee in the clip below:

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