Defensive linemen became a concern with 17 commitments already in the stable for the 2012 signing class but accepting the commitment of Darius Philon helped with that concern.
The 6'2'', 285 pound defensive end from Vigor High School in Pritchard, Alabama is the 18th commitment for Nick Saban so far this year and is one more Vigor High athlete to come to the Crimson Tide.
Previously Vigor has sent Marvin Shinn, Jalston Fowler and B.J. Scott to Alabama, who is on a torrid pace and may have their 19th commitment later this next week with Amari Cooper.
Philon was flying under the radar until midway through his junior year and by year's end, his 89 tackles started getting some attention from some major BCS schools including Auburn who he quickly committed to after receiving an offer from the Tigers.
However, this summer, he attended a camp in Tuscaloosa and Nick Saban and company saw that the young man had a lot of potential with his impressive speed off the ball and work ethic.
They decided to offer Philon a scholarship at the conclusion of that camp in late June and he began the process of decomitting from Auburn.
On Thursday he had it official by changing his commitment to Alabama.
So why would he dump Auburn?
"He committed this morning. I think that's basically where he wanted to go the whole time," Vigor coach Kerry Stevenson said to Jamie Newberg of ESPN. "He grew up fan of Alabama while his father loves Auburn. It's like he's fulfilling a dream because Alabama is the place where he wanted to go."
Philon is also a great student as well as an athlete and has the great grades and ACT scores to qualify at any college, so academics are not an issue with this explosive defensive lineman.
Ironically enough, Vigor's other defensive end, JaMichael Winston is also someone who 14 schools have already offered including Ohio State, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Michigan State among others.
Could Auburn go after the other end at Vigor to make up for the one they lost to the Tide? That would be an interesting development and shows just how much talent there is on that Vigor team.
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