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Miami Ohio football head coach Chuck Martin accused Alabama football of stealing the Redhawks' kicker, Graham Nicholson. Nicholson transferred to Alabama football in the offseason, but Martin is clearly upset with how things went down.
“We didn’t lose him, he’s at Alabama,” Chuck Martin said, according to a post from Jed DeMusey. “We know exactly where he’s at. You media people, it's all pretend, like, Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us. Thats a fact. We live in this la la world, like, ‘hey let's not talk reality' like I don't know why, everyone knows what's going on, so, yeah, Alabama stole our kicker.”
Tampering is something that is a big problem in college football as players admit that it happens all the time. It seems like that is what Martin is talking about here. However, we rarely see the NCAA actually hold programs accountable for it.
Graham Nicholson was nearly automatic for Miami Ohio last season, so it makes sense why Alabama football would want to steal him away from the Redhawks. Nicholson was 26/27 on field goals last year and 35/36 on extra points. Nicholson did not miss a single field goal inside of 40 yards, and he was 9-10 on field goals between 40-49 yards. He also made one 50+ yarder as his long on the year was from 52.
Alabama found a good replacement for Will Reichard
Alabama football hasn't had to worry much about missing kicks in recent years as they have been fortunate to have elite kicking from Will Reichard. Well, Reichard is now in the NFL, so the Crimson Tide needed a replacement.
Graham Nicholson won the Lou Groza Award last year for being the best kicker in college football. Alabama found a good replacement for Reichard, but did they do it legally? Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about it on Tuesday after Chuck Martin's comments went public, and he obviously denied doing anything illegal.
“I don't know anything about that, I guess, that comment,” Kalen DeBoer said. “He entered the portal and we reached out to him. So, um, that's how it goes, right? We did everything that we were supposed to.”
You have to assume that Martin is implying that Alabama contacted Nicholson before he actually entered the transfer portal, and he then entered the portal because he knew he was going to be set up nicely. That is a common occurrence in college football, and that is typically how players are “stolen.”
Even if the Crimson Tide did tamper with Nicholson, it's highly unlikely that the NCAA actually does anything about it.
