Auburn High's Garrison Brooks chooses Mississippi State over UNC, Auburn, others

Garrison Brooks is reuniting with his father.

The 6-foot-10, four-star power forward out of Auburn High announced his commitment to Mississippi State during an emotional, tear-inducing ceremony at his high school early Wednesday morning to tip off college basketball's early signing period.

"It was really tough because last night I had thought about, I don't know, just waiting and pushing it back, but I came to it in my mind that this is what I really want to do," said Brooks, who fought back tears as he made his announcement. "I want to do it."

Brooks broke down as he thanked his mother -- who could not get off work and make it to the ceremony -- in the moments leading up to his decision as he chose Mississippi State over a final group that included traditional powerhouse North Carolina and other SEC programs Auburn, LSU and Georgia. Brooks' father, George Brooks, is an assistant coach on Ben Howland's staff at Mississippi State.

"It meant a lot, but it wasn't the only thing that factored in," Brooks said of playing for his father. "It was one of the main factors, but other stuff factored in with it."

Among those factors were his relationship with the Bulldogs' coaching staff, which has heavily recruited him over the last two years. He also expressed his optimism in Howland's system and how power forwards are used in it, pointing to then-senior Gavin Ware's production last season.

Ware averaged 15.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs, leading Mississippi State in both categories while also averaging 1.1 blocks per game. Brooks said he believes he can have a bigger impact for the Bulldogs than Ware did.

Brooks will tipoff his senior season Tuesday, when Auburn travels to Russell County. As a junior for the Tigers last season, Brooks averaged 15.9 points and 11.4 rebounds per game while tallying 66 blocks and breaking the school's career blocks record along the way.

Brooks, who is rated as the fourth-best prospect in Alabama by the 247Sports Composite rankings and the No. 132 recruit in the nation, broke out on the AAU scene this year while playing for Birmingham-based Team Carroll.

His stock hit an all-time high in early September, when North Carolina coach Roy Williams traveled to Auburn to watch Brooks workout in person at Auburn High. That same day, Sept. 10, Brooks received a scholarship offer from the perennial NCAA Tournament team that has won five national championships, with the most recent coming in 2009.

He came to his decision within the last two weeks but still wrestled with it Tuesday night.

"It was actually really close," Brooks said. "It's closer than what people really think, but I felt this was the situation, so I went and made that decision."

The talented big man spurned the chance to play for the Tar Heels and instead opted to play for his father in what he called the "best decision" of his life.

"It does mean a lot to me because I never got a chance to play for my dad and all my friends got to play for their dads, so it means something."

AL.com will update this story.

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