Aziz Sayyed, a former Alabama college student, was sentenced today to 15 years in federal prison for gathering bomb-making materials and planning to blow up a police building on behalf of the Islamic State group.

Sayyed, 23, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a federal crime of attempting to provide material support or resources to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

"I'm sorry about the path I've taken," Sayyed told U.S. District Judge Abdul K. Kallon at today's sentencing. "I don't know what else to say, your honor."

Federal prosecutors said Sayyed in 2017 met with a Federal Bureau of Investigation Agent, who he thought was a member of ISIS, and expressed his desire to assist the terrorist organization.

"Would he have exploded a bomb? I don't think so, but I can't tell you that for sure," Defense attorney Bruce Gardner said after today's hearing. "The FBI, to their credit, came in at exactly the right time in their mission to protect us all."

In addition to the 15-year sentence, Kallon ordered Sayyed to a lifetime of supervised released. He'll have to allow his probation officer to search his home, car, electronic devices and more, the judge said. If Sayyed has any kind of contact with a terrorist group, its propaganda or a person tied to such group, that could be considered a violation of his release.

Sayyed is accused of gathering materials to make a triacetone triperoxide (TATP) bomb for use in a terror attack. He was arrested by Huntsville police on state charges in June 2017, two days after he met with the FBI agent. Gardner said the state charges are expected to be dropped.

Sayyed watched propaganda videos from terrorist organizations, according to federal prosecutors. These videos showed ISIS forces committing bombings, executions and beheadings.

Sayyed showed his support for the terrorist organization by singing ISIS chants, having an ISIS flag and saying the group was on the "right path," according to his 13-page plea deal.

Sayyed admitted to discussing his aspirations to carry out an attack on Redstone Arsenal or on police stations with two different people. He went to a shooting range in north Alabama to learn how to operate certain firearms and practice shooting them.

Sayyed is an American citizen and was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was living in Huntsville to attend Calhoun Community College. Sayyed's parents live in Kuwait, though he has an uncle who lives in Huntsville and works for NASA.

"Considering the weight of the evidence and the type of activity Mr. Sayyed could have been prosecuted for, I'm extremely happy that we were able to work this out," Gardner said of the plea deal. "He's very sorry. Everybody wants a do-over and he'd sure like to have one of those. He realized he had gone to far, that he had broken the law, that he had potentially put a lot of peoples' lives in danger."