Nate Oats reacts to Alabama signees being named McDonald's All-Americans

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Two of Alabama’s three signees from its 2024 recruiting class were selected as McDonald’s All-Americans on Tuesday. Small forward Derrion Reid and center Aiden Sherrell were among the 24 players named to the 2024 all-star game in Houston.

“They’re really good players,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats on Tuesday. “We’re super excited to get them both here. It’s supposed to be the 24 best players in high school basketball. It’s nice to have two of them. If you have more talent, it’s easier to be a really good coach, it’s easier to win games. 

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to have more talent than a lot of our opponents next year.”

Reid is the Crimson Tide’s highest-rated signee in the 2024 cycle, per the On3 Industry Rankings. The 6-foot-8, 200-pounder is considered the nation’s No. 11 overall prospect and the third-best small forward. Sherrell, who stands at 6-foot-10, 225 pounds, is rated as the No. 22 overall recruit in the class and the country’s fourth-best center in his class.

The duo is now teammates at Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif., and was recognized as McDonald’s All-Americans together. Alabama was one of five schools with two players on the roster, joining Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina and Rutgers. Other SEC teams with one commitment featured in this year’s all-star game included Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas.

Reid and Sherrell mark the fourth and fifth McDonald’s All-Americans to sign with Alabama in Oats’ tenure as the head coach, joining JD Davison, Jaden Bradley and Brandon Miller.

They are part of the Tide’s three-man class, which is ranked No. 4 nationally, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. The third member is Naas Cunningham, who is the nation’s 47th-best player and the No. 15 small forward. Oats praised his coaching staff, both former and current, for adding more talent to the men’s basketball roster in Tuscaloosa.

“Our assistants did a great job,” Oats said. “We were on both of these guys with the previous assistants, and they got handed off to the new assistants that were able to close it. We’ve been on both these guys for a long time. 

“Derrion being from over in Georgia, not too far. He’s been over here at decent amount. Aiden is originally from Detroit, back where I coached 11 years and knew a lot of those people. He’s kind of bounced around to a couple of different places. 

“But they’re both high school teammates now, which is pretty cool, because we recruited them before they ever teamed up together and their team is one of the best teams in high school basketball. Hopefully, they come in knowing how to win, competing. 

Oats continued, “You’ve got to get good talent to win, and I like where we’re at with this class. And then Naas is really good, too. He didn’t make the McDonald’s game, but we’ve got three guys that are make the Dallas game but he’s got three guys that are top 40, for sure top 50 players that are all very talented and fit the scheme that we want to play under.”

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