SEC bound
Labryan Ray, A.J. Harris and Kendall Randolph signed with SEC teams Wed. Feb. 1 (Record Photo/Lindsay Vaught)
MADISON- As of Wednesday afternoon Labryan Ray and Kendall Randolph became teammates again. The two played together at Discovery Middle School but zone lines separated the two as Ray attended James Clemens and Randolph went to Bob Jones.
Now they will be reunited as members of the football team at Alabama. They were joined by A.J. Harris who signed with Ole Miss as Madison made history producing three SEC signees for the first time ever.
Alabama signed seven in-state players, three of those were from Madison. Kyriq McDonald enrolled early also signed his National Letter of Intent Wednesday.
A huge throng of media from around the state and nation gathered at James Clemens on National Signing Day, Feb. 1 to witness first hand who Ray would sign with. It turned out to be Alabama.
A defensive end, Ray was the top rated prospect in Alabama. He said he waited until the last minute because he “wanted to make sure it was the right decision. I was in no rush. I didn’t want to make a decision then decommit.”
On the eve of signing day Alabama Coach Nick Saban visited Ray at the school. Ray was the final piece to Alabama’s recruiting class, widely viewed as the top signing class in the nation and the best ever under Coach Saban. Alabama signed 26 players. Ray was rated a five-star recruit. He was one of six five-star recruits in the class along with 17 rated as four-star.
Ray also visited Tennessee, Florida, and Ole Miss.
At Bob Jones, A.J. Harris kept his longstanding commitment to Coach Hugh Freeze and signed with University of Mississippi.
Harris had offers from Duke, Vanderbilt, Florida State, and Troy but did not take any other official visits after committing last July.
“I love the atmosphere at Ole Miss so I wanted to make it my home. I felt home there so I didn’t worry about what anyone else says or the media says.”
Harris (6-foot-1, 180) built a great relationship with Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze who called him to congratulate him on signing.
“He told me it was great to be part of the family and ready to get me on campus. I am going over there expecting to play but there are older guys in front of me. If I don’t get that starting position I won’t cry over it, I’ll learn from them and keep getting better.”
Randolph carries on a family tradition, his brother Levi is an Alabama graduate, played basketball for the Crimson Tide and currently plays professional basketball in Italy.
