Lassiter Siblings Straddle Alabama, Auburn

had a high-profile recruit with a familiar name sign an SEC football scholarship Wednesday—the other football.

The same day three Trojans—Charlie Hegedus, Niles Clark and Kenny Orjioke—signed to play big-time college football next year, senior midfielder Abby Lutzenkirchen signed a letter of intent to play soccer for the University of Alabama starting in August.

“Blessed to see another day and to be signing with the University of Alabama! Roll Tide!” Lutzenkirchen tweeted Wednesday.

She’s a big catch for Alabama Coach Todd Bramble as the 25th-ranked national recruit on TopDrawerSoccer.com’s list and No. 37 on the ESPNHS list.

“She’s an extremely versatile player. She’s very talented,” Bramble said in a video review of his five-member signing class. He said Lutzenkirchen could play a variety of positions. “She’s got a very, very bright future here.”

A team captain this spring, she has 21 goals and 38 assists in her first three years at Lassiter, according to Alabama’s announcement on her signing.

“Players like Abby Lutzenkirchen don't come along too often,” said Dave Smith, the director of coaching at the North Atlanta Soccer Association, where she plays her club soccer.

“Abby is a very special player,” Lassiter Coach Robbie Galvin said. “She is a competitor and a game-changer. Abby is also a leader and a great person. I cannot say enough good things about Abby Lutzenkirchen and how lucky Alabama is to have a player and person like her.”

She’s also getting extra attention in Tuscaloosa because of her name. Crimson Tide fans are all too familiar with another Lutzenkirchen—her older brother, Philip, an and Lassiter alum on Auburn’s football team.

Bramble had some fun with the Northeast Cobb siblings’ crossing of the Alabama-Auburn rivalry.

“For all those wondering, Abby Lutzenkirchen is HIS sister,” he tweeted Wednesday. “And I think she's even better at Futbol than he is at Football.”

Philip Lutzenkirchen, responding to a tweet suggesting he would have to root for Alabama, at least in soccer, wrote: “I'll cheer for HER ! Haha war eagle til I die!”