When Kalen DeBoer arrived at Alabama this offseason the Crimson Tide’s roster went through some serious roster changes both losing and adding players in the transfer portal.
One of the most underrated additions to the Crimson Tide’s roster was when they added Miami (Ohio) kicker Graham Nicholson. The rising senior is one of the best kickers in the country, making all 35 of his PATs last season as well as 26-of-27 field goal attempts.
Miami (Ohio) head coach Chuck Martin made his feeling known on the topic Thursday morning when he accused Alabama of tampering with Nicholson and encouraging him to get into the transfer portal.
“You media people, it’s all pretend,” Martin said in an interview with Miami’s in house media. “No. Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us. That’s a fact. But we live in this La La world like hey let’s not talk reality. Everyone knows what’s going on so Alabama stole our kicker. A couple other schools tried to steal him.”
Tampering is a major issue with the transfer portal in nearly every major college sport. Coaches often complain about it in general terms but it’s incredibly rare for a coach to call out another program for tampering like Martin did on Thursday.
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First-year Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer denied the allegations during his media availability, saying the Crimson Tide did everything by the book.
“I don’t know anything about that, I guess. That comment,” DeBoer said. “He entered the portal and we reached out to him. That’s how it goes, right? We did everything that we were supposed to.”
Nicholson is one of the best kickers in the country entering the 2024 season, making every field goal attempt up to 40 yards and 10-of-11 attempts of 40-plus yards last season. Over the course of his three-year career, Nicholson is 57-of-66 on field goals during his career.
Kalen DeBoer faces Tennessee for the first time on Oct. 19 when Alabama travels to Neyland Stadium on the Third Saturday in October.
