FOLEY – Foley head football coach Todd Watson called Wednesday, National Signing Day, a “proud day for Foley High School.” Two of Watson’s Lions, offensive tackle D.J. Fluker and defensive end/linebacker Justin Anderson, signed to play Division-1 football.

Fluker, who is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top high school prospects, signed to play for the University of Alabama. Anderson will play college football at Louisiana-Lafayette.

“As their coach and kind of ‘proud papa,’ this is a proud day for us,” Watson said.

The 6-foot-7, 350-pound Fluker had offers from Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, Auburn, Florida, Florida State and LSU, but decided early on that Alabama was the place for him.

“Once I made my decision on Alabama, I stuck with it,” Fluker said. “A couple other schools made a late push for me, but I had already made up my mind.”

Fluker is the top-ranked offensive lineman on ESPNU’s list, and he is the top-rated tackle according to Rivals.Com, a recruiting Web site. Watson said Fluker had 86 pancake blocks this season and an 87 percent blocking grade. Fluker was named a Parade All-American, U.S. Army All-American, and All-State selection and an All-County selection. He was also selected to play in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star game.

“I don’t think it will be easy to go up there and work my way to the top right away,” Fluker said. “I am just going to work hard to get a starting spot. Right now I am just going to concentrate of my academics until that time comes.”

Fluker also said he is excited about playing with some of the other Alabama recruits.

“I have talked to (A.J.) McCarron, Trent Richardson, Quentin Dial and a couple others,” Fluker said. “There are a bunch of cool people in the class.”

Anderson (6-2, 238-pounds) had 75 tackles, three sacks, four fumble recoveries, two touchdowns on fumble recoveries and six pass break ups this season. He was a three-year starter for the Lions and was selected as Foley’s Defensive Player of the Year by his teammates.

Louisiana-Lafayette is a Division-1 school in the Sun-Belt Conference.

“They were the only school that wanted me to play defensive end and linebacker out of the schools that were recruiting me,” Anderson said. “I wanted to play somewhere where I could do both.”

Anderson said he is excited about playing some of the bigger-name schools while at Lafayette.

“Next year we will play LSU and Nebraska,” Anderson said. “I feel like I can have a big part in those games.”

Anderson said the Lafayette coaches told him they like his pass rush. He said they also liked his ability to drop back into pass coverage. He also received offers from UAB, Arkansas State, South Alabama and Northern Illinois.