Xavier McKinney to Alabama: Crimson Tide Land 4-Star Safety Prospect

Class of 2017 4-star safety prospect Xavier McKinney committed to Alabama on Sunday. 

Gerry Hamilton of ESPN shared video of McKinney's commitment:

The 6'1", 192-pound defensive back out of Roswell, Georgia, was ranked by Scout.com as the No. 3 safety in his home state, the No. 17 safety in the nation and the 180th-ranked overall prospect in the country. 

He's exhibited an ability to always know where the ball is, and he can track it as well as any prospect in the country while adding a physical aspect to his game:

It got him some major attention from some big SEC schools and in September 2015, he originally committed to Alabama. 

But it didn't last long as he decommitted from the school in July 2016, explaining why to Rivals.com:

Back on the recruitment trail, Phil Kornblut of the TheState.com reported in September that Clemson, Florida and Ohio State were in McKinney's final three, but the safety added two more schools he would officially visit:

"

My official visits
1.florida
2.clemson
3.ohio state
4.georgia
5.alabama

— Xavier Mckinney (@mckinney_xavier) September 17, 2016"

After all of the drama though, McKinney is returning to Tuscaloosa where he will join the most powerful SEC school and one of the most successful programs in college football. 

He even put aside the hate tweets from Alabama fans, via Chris Kirschner of SECCountry.com:

"

It’s been a lot, but I feel like I deal with it in a good way. I pretty much come back with something all of the time. I don’t like when people try to come at me with something they don’t really know what they’re talking about. Most of the time, it’s kind of dumb comments I get. I reply back to them to teach them up on some things.

"

Now with him preparing to patrol the secondary in Crimson and White, Alabama fans will surely forget the mean things they said because their team's secondary just received a huge boost. 

Stats courtesy of NCAA.com.