Junior College standout and four-star recruit Keon Ellis verbally committed to Alabama on Sunday, he tells 247Sports.

“I would say because I feel like I can play there and it’s a school I’ve always wanted to play at,” Ellis said. “I love the school. The coaching staff came down and showed a lot of love and showed me that I’m a priority to them, coming down to see me, talking to me a lot and showing a lot of interest and showing how useful I can be to the team.”

Ellis, a 6-foot-6 wing out of Florida SouthWestern, picked Nate Oats’ program over his three other finalists – Iowa State, Kansas State and Western Kentucky. When did Ellis know Alabama was the place for him?

“I would say probably towards when we started playing state playoffs,” Ellis said. “They were showing the most interest of all the other schools. Other schools would just text me and say they would come to a game, but [Oats] told me that he believed in my game since the first time he came down. I felt good about because he got faith in my game.”

Ellis told 247Sports Alabama really began to pick things up with him in January, and despite not having an opportunity to visit he felt comfortable with his decision because of the relationships he built with Oats and assistant Bryan Hodgson.

“Just how they kept explaining to me how impactful I could be if I came there,” he said. “They just kept telling me that they believe in me, that’s what did it for me.”

On the court, Ellis averaged 18.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists a game. Ellis shot 53.6-percent from the field and 40.1-percent from three on 142 attempts.

“I think I can fit in perfectly. They play fast, up and down up-tempo which is pretty much all I’ve played in high school and college.

This marks the third commitment of Alabama’s 2020 recruiting class. Ellis joins five-star guard Josh Primo and four-star forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton to make up their current class, which now ranks No. 23 in the 247Sports Class Rankings.