4-star Alabama commitment flips to Michigan a week before pivotal Tide official visit

While it has been trending in this direction for quite a while now, 4-star TE Colt Lumpris announcing his flip to Michigan on Saturday is still a disappointing blow for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama.

Lumpris committed to the Crimson Tide back in December, but his recruitment never felt over. In recent months, Michigan emerged as a serious contender to flip the 6-foot-6 New Jersey native, but it was expected that a final decision would happen after he made his official visits to Alabama next weekend and then Michigan in the middle of June.

Instead, Lumpris flipped to the Wolverines before the Crimson Tide could make its final pitch:

4-star TE Colt Lumpris flips his commitment from Alabama to Michigan

Lumpris was scheduled for a pivotal official visit to Alabama next weekend from May 29-May 31st. New Tide TE coach Richard Owens had recently made a visit to see Lumpris, in which the 4-star noted that Owens had made a strong first impression.

Now, Lumpris won't likely be making that trip to Tuscaloosa after flipping just six days before he was scheduled to arrive.

Lumpris' flip leaves Alabama with just five commitments in its 2027 class right now. It's a similar position that DeBoer and company have been in heading into the summer official visit season the last two years, and Alabama has gone on major recruiting runs in both to finish with Top 5 classes.

Alabama remains in a strong position to do it again this summer, though the expectation around the program is that they are not planning on signing as big a high school class this time after signing large high school and Transfer Portal classes this past offseason.

Alabama has done a good job with TE recruiting in the last couple of cycles, landing impactful young players like Kaleb Edwards, Marshall Pritchett, and Mack Sutter. After the Lumpris flip, the Crimson Tide still has a TE in its class with 3-star Oakley Keegan from Liverpool, New York.

4-star Malik Howard out of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, will likely be the focus of Alabama's efforts going forward to add a second TE in this class.

Howard has impressive measurements (6-foot-3.5, 231 pounds) and is ranked higher than Lumpris in the composite rankings. He sits at No. 216 overall and is the No. 11 TE in the 2027 class. Howard is set to take his official visit to Alabama next weekend, and also has visits set up with Tennessee and Notre Dame.

Landing Howard would certainly lessen the sting of Lumpris' flip to the Wolverines.

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