Antonio Coleman’s recruitment saga from Alabama to Auburn and back again

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August 1, 2024

Over the weekend, the Auburn Tigers received a huge commitment from Mobile (Saraland), AL’s Antonio Coleman, a 4-star defensive tackle for the Saraland Spartans who helped the team win the 2022 6A state title and reach the title game once again in 2023.

But for Auburn, that wasn’t even the best part. The Tigers were able to flip Coleman’s pledge from Alabama, thus strengthening their class while weakening the class of their greatest rival. With Coleman, however, this wasn’t the first time. It was the fourth commitment the young 2025 star has made, and third flip between the Iron Bowl rivals alone.

At the beginning of his junior season for the Spartans back in September of 2023, Coleman committed to play for — at the time — Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

It’s been a complete roller coaster since then.

A month and a half later in late October, Coleman took his first unofficial visit to Auburn. Less than two months later, just three days before Christmas, Coleman announced he was flipping officially to Auburn coming off the heels of an absolutely massive season for Saraland.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Once Kalen DeBoer took over and got his feet under him, he immediately started pursuing recruits, even ones who were already committed. After a full-court press from DeBoer and his staff, Coleman flipped back from Auburn to Alabama on March 2.

Two weeks later, Coleman unofficially visited Auburn once again, but it was quiet for months after that.

Until Big Cat Weekend.

Coleman took official visits to both schools in the month of June, but still seemed at the time pretty solidly locked in with Alabama.

But on Auburn’s biggest recruiting push of the year last weekend, Hugh Freeze got the talented game wrecker on campus and Coleman flipped back to Auburn once again.

He told media this week that he is completely locked in with Auburn now, but if history tells us anything, DeBoer should keep on trying until Coleman puts pen to paper and one of the wildest recruitments in this state’s history officially comes to a close.

Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.