Bama Hammer's Nicholas Rome believes Alabama flipping Antonio Coleman from the Auburn football program could lead to another Tigers target choosing Tuscaloosa over the Plains: Saraland quarterback KJ Lacey, a high school teammate of both Coleman and long-rumored but never flipped AU flip target receiver Ryan Williams and a current Texas commit.
"Landing Coleman may also play a pivotal role in landing another one of the Alabama Football program's top targets in Saraland Quarterback KJ Lacey," Rome prefaced before saying, "Coleman will join high school teammate Ryan Williams at Alabama and the duo will play a huge part in attempting to flip Lacey from Texas."
Fear not, though, Auburn fans. While it seems as though Kalen DeBoer and Co. are figuring things out and regaining their top spot on the recruiting trail in the state of Alabama, Rome believes that the work is far from done for the first post-Nick Saban Crimson Tide coaching staff.
"We're still a long way away from Coleman becoming signed and officially a member of the program so DeBoer and his staff will need to continue working to hang onto Coleman," Rome wrote.
Auburn football on flip watch for Antonio Coleman and KJ Lacey
AU is very much still in on Coleman and Lacey's recruitment. Hell, even with Williams now a member of the Tide after signing his NLI, the Saraland trio could all still be up for grabs ahead of the 2025 season; when Coleman and Lacey become freshmen and after Williams completes his first season.
With the NCAA's efforts to curb NIL having gone awry, Williams hitting the transfer portal after a potentially underperforming year one in the DeBoer era is on the table. Sure, Williams has embraced being the one star state of Alabama wideout to commit to the Tide and shun Hugh Freeze's "Freeze Five," making it a "Freeze Four" instead, but the allure of being part of the Tigers' renaissance on the Plains will be just as (if not more) enticing a year from now.
Coleman and Lacey's recruitment is far from over. And Williams in an Auburn uniform is a dream that's still not dead just yet.