Auburn Hires Alabama assistant coach Lance Thompson as Linebackers Coach

In a rather stunning move, Auburn has hired away an Alabama assistant. Lance Thompson - considered one of the nation's top recruiters - has swapped schools in the Iron Bowl rivalry to take the linebackers coaching job at Auburn.

The last time something like this happened, it was the other way around. James "Bad Lando" Willis left Auburn shortly after Gene Chizik's hire as head coach to take the linebackers coaching position at Alabama.

Thompson and Will Muschamp have worked together before at LSU, where Thompson was the tight-ends coach under Nick Saban.

As a recruiter, Thompson has been responsible for some of the nation's top recruits - including people like Julio Jones, DJ Fluker, and Trent Richardson.

With the Thompson hire, new Defensive Coordinator Will Muschamp's defensive staff is complete. It was a priority to get this done before the big recruiting weekend coming up this weekend, particularly since Auburn is hosting one of its top linebacker prospects in Jeff Holland.