Alabama comes into this season as defending SEC Champions and while the Tide lost stars like John Petty Jr., Josh Primo and Herbert Jones to the NBA, the Tide were still picked by the media to finish second in the SEC behind Kentucky.

One of the reasons why is 5-star freshman JD Davison. Davison was highly recruited out of high school and he surprised many with his choice of Alabama.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats told AL.com what he’s seen so far in his new star:

“Like all freshmen, there are going to be some inconsistencies,” he said. “They have to realize what it takes at this level on a daily basis but I’ll say this, he’s a quiet kid. He didn’t talk much during the recruitment. (Assistant coach Antoine) Pettway had done a great job building that relationship before I even got here and we continued to work on it and we’re fortunate to have him here.”

Oats was also surprised how vocal Davison has been in practice compared to when he was being recruited:

“If a guy doesn’t talk a ton in the recruitment, you’re not sure if their basketball IQ is going to be all that,” Oats continued to said. “His basketball IQ is actually pretty high and he’s very coachable. You always wonder if a guy is rated that high, how coachable are they going to be. Do they think they have everything figured out? He’s the opposite of that.”

The coach continued to say how the freshman wants to be coached, wants to continue to get better and his skill level has been impressive so far and he’s happy about Davison’s growth.

Alabama will open its basketball season against Louisiana Tech Nov. 9 in Tuscaloosa.