Auburn flips 5-star Foley WR Perry Thompson from Alabama

For the second time within a week, Auburn scores a massive recruiting win over one of its arch-rivals.
Class of 2024 5-star wide receiver Perry Thompson from Foley High School announced he has flipped his commitment from Alabama to Auburn during Auburn’s Big Cat Weekend recruiting event.
He is Auburn’s second major commitment of the weekend after 4-star athlete Malcolm Simmons of the Benjamin Russell School in Alexander City, Alabama announced on Saturday.
Thompson originally committed to Alabama last June but, like many of Auburn’s 2024 recruiting targets, things changed when former head coach Bryan Harsin was fired, and new head coach Hugh Freeze installed his staff.
After the commitment of 5-star linebacker Demarcus Riddick on Wednesday, Simmons and now Thompson, Auburn currently has pledges from eight of the top 25 players in the state per 247Sports. The Crimson Tide have three.
Thompson is Auburn’s highest-rated wide receiver commitment since Duke Williams in 2014, per 247Sports.
It’s been quite a long time since Auburn was a player for elite in-state talents like Thompson and Riddick — or since Auburn has had recruiting momentum quite like this week.
In a previous AL.com story, Thompson said he didn’t hear from Auburn before Freeze was hired. Thompson already had a relationship with new Auburn wide receivers coach Marcus Davis, who was the wide receivers coach at Georgia Southern when Thompson received a scholarship offer there.
Thompson received his offer from Auburn this year in January. He then took a visit to campus for Auburn’s Junior Day, followed by three unofficial visits this spring and an official visit in June all before the Tigers sealed his pledge this weekend.
It’s a quite similar story to Riddick’s.
But Thompson is an even higher-rated recruit than Riddick. 247Sports has him ranked as the 14th-best overall player in the nation and the fourth wide receiver.
The 6-foot-4, 210-pound receiver continues Auburn’s significant recruiting momentum. Freeze’s team has multiple five-star recruits on top of Thompson on campus this weekend and the team hopes for more commitments soon.
Auburn’s 2024 class had climbed to be ranked 23rd in the nation with Simmons’ commitment and was the in the top 10 best nationally in terms of average player rating. With Thompson now in the fold, that will climb further.