BREAKING: Alabama Lands Coveted 5-Star Prospect Ethan Thompson After Dramatic Flip from Texas Longhorns, Sending Shockwaves Through College Football
In a stunning turn of events that has sent shockwaves rippling through the college football landscape, 5-star wide receiver Ethan Thompson, the No. 3 overall player in the 2025 recruiting class, has flipped his commitment from the Texas Longhorns to the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Thompson, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound explosive playmaker out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California, had been a firm Texas pledge since last summer. Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff had invested heavily in Thompson’s recruitment, making him the centerpiece of their offensive future. But in a dramatic and unexpected move, Thompson announced his decision on a live broadcast Wednesday morning, donning a crimson Alabama cap and saying simply, “Roll Tide.”
Multiple sources confirm the flip was the culmination of an aggressive late push by Alabama’s new head coach, Kalen DeBoer, who personally visited Thompson three times in the last month. DeBoer, aiming to reassert Alabama’s dominance on the recruiting trail post-Saban era, made Thompson his top priority—and it paid off.
“This was a business decision,” Thompson said. “Coach DeBoer laid out a vision that I believe will get me to the next level. Alabama’s wide receiver tradition speaks for itself—Julio, Amari, Waddle, DeVonta. I want to be the next in that line.”
The fallout in Austin was immediate. Texas fans, stunned by the news, flooded social media, while insiders at the program acknowledged they were “blindsided” by Thompson’s change of heart. Despite NIL incentives and a clear path to early playing time in Texas’s high-powered offense, Alabama’s winning pedigree and Thompson’s belief in DeBoer’s rising system proved too much to resist.
Recruiting analysts have compared Thompson’s sudden flip to the infamous 2012 flip of Landon Collins, another Louisiana native who spurned LSU for Alabama in a nationally televised moment. But this might carry even more weight, given Texas’s return to prominence and the growing SEC rivalry between the two powerhouse programs.
“This is a seismic moment,” said 247Sports analyst Brandon Huffman. “Not just because of the player Thompson is—he’s a future first-rounder—but because it shows Alabama is still a recruiting juggernaut under DeBoer. If anyone thought the dynasty was dead, this just revived it.”
Thompson becomes the crown jewel of Alabama’s already stacked 2025 class, which now boasts three 5-stars and ranks No. 2 nationally, behind only Georgia. With Thompson’s commitment, Alabama also strengthens its West Coast pipeline—an area it has increasingly targeted as part of its national reach.
For Texas, the loss stings. It’s not just about losing a player. It’s about losing that player—to a direct SEC competitor.
The college football world will be watching closely this fall. And when Alabama and Texas square off in Tuscaloosa on September 13, expect the cameras to find Ethan Thompson—front and center, wearing crimson, not burnt orange.
