Justin Taylor said Monday that he was still committed to national champion Alabama but was listening to other schools after head coach Nick Saban told him earlier this month that he would have to delay his signing with the Crimson Tide by a year.

Taylor, a senior running back at North Atlanta High School and a three-star recruit according to Rivals.com, tore his right ACL in September and missed nearly all of his senior season with the Warriors.

“It’s been kind of crazy,” he said of the past few weeks.

Taylor said he was contacted by Wake Forest Monday, and he has also heard from Ole Miss, Tennessee and Purdue, but one of the schools would have to make quite an impression for him to forgo Alabama’s offer.

He committed to Alabama in February 2011 after a standout junior season at Booker T. Washington, where he rushed for 1,500 yards and 11 touchdowns.
If he does wait to sign with the Crimson Tide until 2013, he said he may play for a prep school this fall, adding he was interested in Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia.

After transferring to North Atlanta for his senior year to join legal guardian and head coach Stanley Pritchett, his season was cut down by the knee injury, and despite his early commitment, he was asked to “grayshirt” for Alabama.

Pritchett has been through the recruiting process himself, having starred at South Carolina before playing in the NFL for several teams, including the Atlanta Falcons in 2004.

“[Coach Pritchett] honestly wants the best for me so it’s my decision,” Taylor said. “He’ll tell me here and there what he thinks about the situation. He wants my knee to be 100 percent healthy. But then again, he wants me to look at other schools.”

Taylor added the rehabilitation of his right knee is going well.

His size (5 feet, 11 inches and 215 pounds) and bruising running style drew favorable comparisons in the recruiting process to former Alabama running back and Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram. After attending Junior Day last year in Tuscaloosa and receiving a scholarship offer from Saban, Taylor didn’t hesitate to accept at the time.

“I just felt home,” Taylor told Neighbor Newspapers in August. “I just fell in love with it. I met some of the fans and I hadn’t even had an offer from them.”