Dallas County’s William Lee chooses UAB

Published 9:16 pm Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Dallas County power forward William Lee is ranked by ESPN.com as the nation’s No. 65 basketball prospect.  According to ESPN.com, he has received offers from Alabama,  Auburn, Georgia, Houston, Mississippi State, Tennessee,, and Vanderbilt. Lee is drawing interest from many other schools. He will participate in the Lebron James Skills Academy, starting on July 5. --file photo

Dallas County power forward William Lee will attend UAB –file photo

Dallas County High School power forward William Lee has picked UAB.

Lee, ranked the nation’s No. 65 recruit by ESPN, will officially sign with the Blazers Wednesday at 1 p.m. at Dallas County High School.

“I want to be different,” Lee said. “Everybody goes to these big schools or whatever and I just want to be different and go in my own direction and try to make something happen out of a small school and put them on the map.”

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“If I can win 4A player of the year at Dallas County, I feel like I can get big results at UAB,” Lee said.

Along with an offer from UAB, Lee held offers from Alabama, SMU, Mississippi State, and Georgia.

He said his decision really came down to UAB and SMU, but the distance between Plantersville and Dallas, Texas ended up making UAB the clear choice, despite heavy recruiting from the Mustangs in recent months.

“It’s the distance about SMU,” Lee said in a previous interview. “It is 14-hours away in a car and 2-hours on a plane. I’m concerned of how I am going to get back and forth on holidays to come visit my family if I go to SMU.”

Lee said he wanted to go to a smaller school to “be different” and both UAB and SMU fit that mold.

The power forward said another highly touted recruit that he met through the recruiting process is also expected to commit to the Blazers in the coming days.

He was originally scheduled to announce where he would attend college Nov. 8, but delayed the decision when he could not come to a firm decision.

The Dallas County power forward averaged a triple double during his junior year. His senior season officially starts Friday when the Hornets host John Essex at Dallas County High School.