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FOREST PARK, Ohio — Winton Woods senior linebacker and edge rusher Justin Hill introduced Wednesday afternoon that he is given a verbal dedication to the College of Alabama.
Hill, a four-star participant, made the much-anticipated announcement on his seventeenth birthday contained in the Winton Woods Excessive College gymnasium in entrance of household, associates and coaches.
“I am blessed, however I am sort of simply taking all of it in,” Hill stated after his verbal dedication. “All these folks man, that I like and love me, that got here out right here to see me. … They simply need the perfect for me.”
Hill advised WCPO 9 that he made the choice Tuesday night time, and he knowledgeable Alabama exterior linebackers coach Christian Robinson along with his selection Wednesday morning. Hill stated he spoke with Robinson and he was the one coach he advised about his choice.
“I actually made my thoughts up 100% final night time,” Hill stated. “It simply got here right down to me, you recognize, on my own in my room simply determining what is correct, what do I must excel.”
Hill, rated Ohio’s No. 4 participant within the 2025 class by 247 Sports activities and the nation’s No. 7 edge rusher, narrowed his selections to Alabama, Ohio State, Oregon and College of Southern California as his finalists. He took official visits to the 4 applications in June.
A big crowd waited patiently early Wednesday afternoon for Hill’s choice on the scheduled ceremony.
Hill stated he felt blessed to have such a ceremony in entrance of household, associates and supporters. He was emotional at instances talking to the viewers.
A big group of reporters requested him questions after the ceremony.
“I grew up being an Ohio State fan,” Hill stated. “I obtained household which can be Ohio State followers they usually need me go to Ohio State however they love me for the truth that they do not care the place I need to go. They simply know it is nice for me they usually need the perfect for me.”
The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Hill has impressed school coaches all through a recruiting journey that is earned him practically 30 scholarship gives since October 2021.
Cameras, microphones and telephones recorded all the ceremony Wednesday afternoon. Photographs had been snapped and recollections had been made.
“What an absolute unbelievable day,” Winton Woods coach Chad Murphy stated to the viewers. “Justin is an outstanding child firstly. Everyone sees these hats sitting up right here and all these Energy 5 colleges see all these nice highlights and this and that. However, it is unbelievable what we get to see right here every day for the final 4 years is a man who continues to maintain his head down, keep humble and be one of many hardest staff within the room. And to me as a coach it simply says an unbelievable factor about who he’s as an individual.”
Hill, a Division II first-team all-state choice as a junior, mentioned with WCPO 9 Sportsthis spring how title, picture and likeness (NIL) impacted his recruiting journey.
“I simply really feel like I’ve tried to take all of it in and mature myself sufficient to have the ability to perceive such a stuff,” Hill stated this spring. “I perceive that happening visits and seeing the kind of those who I am round, it is a enterprise. And it is not nothing you could be infantile with.”
Winton Woods, which earned an 8-4 file in 2023, opens the season at 2023 Division I state runner-up Springfield on Aug. 23.
Hill is ready to signal his Nationwide Letter of Intent Dec. 4.
Murphy stated Hill will definitely make a major impression on this 12 months’s Winton Woods crew because it strikes to Division I this season.
“The factor is about this dude will not be solely is he top-of-the-line soccer gamers in the US of America – he is top-of-the-line human beings in the US of America,” Murphy stated.
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