The path Griff Redmill took to the University of Alabama back in 1996 had as many dips and curves as the winding stretch of AL-69 that led him from his Jasper home south to Tuscaloosa.

Looking back, the recruitment of the former University of Alabama offensive lineman, who was initially pegged as a defensive lineman by Gene Stallings' staff, had a little bit of everything. Among the highlights: a significant knee injury during Redmill's junior year that wouldn't be revealed until months later; a commitment to a rival SEC program, followed by a late offer from UA and subsequent flip to the Crimson Tide.

The only thing missing was BamaOnLine.com to cover it all. BOL set up shop on June 6, 1996, about the same time Redmill, a member of Stallings' final recruiting class, picked up his diploma from Walker High.

The following is Redmill's recollection of his recruitment. Many thanks to Griff, a three-year starter for the Crimson Tide at offensive guard from 1998-2000, for allowing us to share with our readers a fascinating account of how a kid defied the odds to realize his life-long dream.

First contact

My first recruiting letter came from (recruiting coordinator) Randy Ross at the University of Alabama. Growing up an hour from Tuscaloosa, my family had always been huge Alabama fans and it was no secret where I always dreamed of playing college football.

The letter came after my sophomore year at Walker High School. Honestly, it was probably more of a courtesy because of some family friends who were influential boosters at that time. I think they wanted to see me at Alabama as much as my own family did.

At the time, I was a 6-foot-4, 205-pound defensive end/tight end playing on a team with a 2-8 record, so I wasn’t exactly a blue chipper. But that letter gave me a lot of confidence and reinforced the idea that playing college football could be a reality for me.

I began working toward that goal and as I finally started to mature physically, I picked up more and more interest from other schools. I still wasn’t as big as most of the other recruits at my position but teams seemed to like that I was versatile enough to play several positions. I also had good grades and was a good kid.

It was then that I started hearing from most of the SEC schools. Shortly thereafter schools outside the SEC began to show interest: Colorado, Florida State, Louisville and Penn State. However, none of those schools seemed to be very serious about me at first. Alabama contacted me the most throughout the entire process.

At the end of my junior year, we hired a new head coach, Bubba Davis. Coach Davis retired from the Mississippi school system after winning four state championships [at West Point High School] and turning several struggling programs around throughout his career.

Coach Davis had been around the block when it came to the recruiting game. He had put kids in college at every level. When he came to Walker, I expressed to him my goals and concerns with getting where I wanted to be. He told me to keep working like I had been and he’d handle the rest of it.

During spring training leading up to my senior year, coaches from various universities started coming to watch practice. Most, if not all, of these guys were there as a result of relationships coach Davis had developed over the years. They would take a look at a kid solely on his endorsement.

The Setback

I was having a great spring and interest from coaches was starting to pick up. Then something happened that almost changed the course of my football career. During spring training I was also participating in track and field. Three days before our spring game, I hurt my knee participating in the long jump competition.

I remember going to see Dr. Larry Lemak at HealthSouth in Birmingham. He prodded me for about 30 seconds before bluntly telling me that I had sustained a torn ACL and would require surgery. Dr. Lemak said he would do the surgery on Tuesday and I would miss my senior football season in the fall.

I knew my chances of a SEC scholarship offer were marginal without a great senior season and If I didn’t play at all I would probably fall off the recruiting map. So I did what any 17-year-old whose dreams had seemingly been crushed would do: I started to cry uncontrollably.

Dr. Lemak was a little shocked by my reaction. But when I explained my situation, he seemed to understand. Before I left his office, Dr. Lemak offered one long-shot option: rehab all summer, brace the injured knee in the fall and see how long I could go on it. He said he didn’t recommend the option and that he’d never seen it work out but in my mind, it was the only option I had.

After a spring and summer in coach Davis’ program, I reported for fall camp at 6-foot-6 and 250 pounds. A few weeks into my senior season, college coaches started calling and coming to see me at school.

Amazingly, I managed to keep my injury a secret for the first seven games or so. I was having a great year and never missed a play due to my injury, so no one ever thought to question my knee. Of course, the news about my knee did eventually get out and once it did, teams were obviously concerned.

The Recruitment

The knee was the first thing recruiters asked about. I remember coach Davis sitting through one of those uncomfortable meetings with me. He could tell I was nervous about it, so he'd step in and ask the coach why he was here.

Before the recruiter could answer, coach Davis said, “Because this kid is having a great year and you want him to play for you, right?”

The recruiter nodded in agreement.

Coach Davis replied, “Well look what he’s done with one good knee. Imagine how good he’ll be with two good ones once it’s fixed.”

Crazy as it may have sounded at the time, that simple logic seemed to resonate with coaches once they thought about it from coach Davis' perspective.

By the end of the season, I had official visits lined up with Ole Miss, Mississippi State, LSU and Louisville. Although Alabama never stopped recruiting me, it looked like my chances of getting an offer were slim.

Alabama had limited scholarships due to NCAA probation and they already had five all-america defensive linemen committed for the 1996 recruiting class.

The chances of UA offering another defensive lineman seemed very slim to me. However, Alabama kept calling me.

I took my visit to Ole Miss and loved it. I guess I had already made my mind up that Alabama wasn’t going to have room for me, so I committed to Ole Miss.

I was perfectly happy with my decision, mainly because I thought my first choice was not a possibility anymore. I canceled my remaining official visits and began to prepare myself for what life was going to be like as a Rebel.

Two days later, coach Ross called me at home to see where I was in my recruitment. I proudly told him I had committed to Ole Miss and I appreciated everything he had done for me.

He slyly replied, “That’s good. You hang on to that (offer) Griff.” As a naïve 18-year-old, the comment confused me. I thought it was over, but coach Ross kind of left the door open.

Even when I said, "Don’t worry about me coach, I’m going to stick with my decision", coach Ross just brushed it off and said, "you’re doing fine, just hold your cards."

I didn’t even know what he meant. Two days later, coach Ross called again and wanted to know what I was doing. I told him I was headed to Dr. Lemak’s office for a post-op follow up. Even though I told him no, he insisted on meeting me there.

At Dr. Lemak’s office, he told me that he was 99 percent sure that a spot was going to open up for me in the Alabama recruiting class. He said that he and (defensive line) coach (Mike) DuBose were going to bat for me with coach Stallings to get that spot.

Apparently, there had been a lot of flip flopping by some of the high profile recruits and coach Stallings finally said, “I want a kid who wants to play for Alabama.”

Both coach Ross and coach Dubose said, "We’ve got your guy."

At first I was elated by this development. Then I felt sick thinking about going back on my word to Ole Miss. Then I was terrified at the thought of telling my dad about a possible change in my plan.

In our house, your word was always your bond. It bothered me so much that I pulled over after leaving Dr. Lemak's office to call home from a pay phone. Dad answered and listened to the latest development.

His response lifted a huge burden from my shoulders. He told me that our word should always be our bond, but that it was also my life and my dream.

"Sometimes," my father said, "you have to make decisions based on circumstances. When circumstances change, sometimes decisions change."

After talking about it, I decided it wouldn’t do Ole Miss or me any good if I went there knowing I could have gone where I really wanted to go. The conversation with my dad lifted a huge weight off of me.

Two days later, coach Stallings called Walker High School and asked for me. As fate would have it, I was absent that day. But the school secretary told coach that my mom was a teacher at the school and the assistant could page her.

Coach Stallings proceeded to tell my mom that he wanted me to play football for the University of Alabama, to which my mom replied, “He’ll be there, coach.”

So, I never even had the pleasure of actually committing to the Tide because my mom did it for me. In the end, though, it all worked out like I had hoped.

Follow Griff on twitter: @papermill75.