Former Alabama football player Antonio Alfano, a 5-star recruit in the 2019 signing class, has left the program at Colorado, according to a report by the Boulder Daily Camera.
The school confirmed Alfano’s departure to the Daily Camera’s Brian Howell, according to the report. Alfano enrolled at Colorado in January after leaving Alabama without ever playing in a game.
Alfano, a 6-foot-5, 280-pound native of New Jersey, was recruited to the Buffaloes by former head coach Mel Tucker, a one-time Alabama assistant. Tucker left for Michigan State in February and was replaced by Karl Dorrell.
Alfano was suspended by Dorrell in March for violation of team rules. He was also suspended at Alabama in September before entering the NCAA transfer portal in October.
“He’s kind of disappeared a little bit,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said in September. “I talked to our team today about the fact that people make mistakes. We all mistakes. I make mistakes. Probably everybody in this room makes mistakes. We make mistakes as parents. We make mistakes as coaches. We make mistakes in just about everything that we do. But I think you compound the problem when you don’t confront the mistakes that you make and you create greater consequences for yourself because of the choices and decisions that you make after you make a mistake. So hopefully this will be a learning experience for all the guys on our team.”
Alfano told Howell in a story published in late December that he left Alabama in part because he was distraught after his grandmother suffered a stroke during fall camp (she later died), but also because he was frustrated over his position on the depth chart. He was one of the highest-ranked recruit to sign with the Crimson Tide in the Saban era, checking in at No. 5 in the final 2019 composite rankings compiled by 247 Sports.