TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ā Miami of Ohio head coach Chuck Martin believes Alabama tampered in its recruitment of Lou Groza Award-winning kicker Graham Nicholson this offseason. During an interview posted to Miami of Ohioās official YouTube page Thursday, Martin claimed the Crimson Tide āstoleā Nicholson when he transferred to Alabama in late April.
āWe didnāt lose him, heās at Alabama,ā Martin said. āWe know exactly where heās at. Again, you media people, itās all pretend. Like, no, Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us and thatās a fact. We act like itās not. We live in this la-la world, like āHey, letās not talk...ā I donāt know why. Everybody knows whatās going on.
āSo yeah, Alabama stole our kicker. A couple other schools tried to steal him but thenā¦ OK, what was the question?ā
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about Martinās comments hours later and denied that he or his staff did anything wrong in its recruitment of Nicholson.
āHe entered the portal, and we reached out to him,ā DeBoer said. āSo, thatās how it goes, right? We did everything that we were supposed to.ā
During his Lou Groza Award-winning season last year, Nicholson connected on 27 of 28 field-goal attempts and 35 of 37 extra-point tries. He also set an NCAA single-season record with 25 straight made field goals.
Nicholson was brought in to replace departing kicker Will Reichard, who holds the NCAA all-time points record. So far in camp, the Miami-Ohio transfer has drawn positive reviews from DeBoer and the staff.
āHeās been really consistent,ā Deboer said of Nicholson earlier this month. āHonestly, all of our kickers have, but specifically with Grahamā¦ I like his mindset. Heās a very confident guy. I donāt really know how heās going to respond when he misses one. Maybe if, right?
āHeās great to have with us. The team has really accepted him in. I think he feels a part of it. You canāt help but look at what heās done in the past and already know, man, this guy is really good. You can see why each and every day. He has a good process about him. Weāre glad heās here.ā
āWe didnāt lose him, heās at Alabama,ā Martin said. āWe know exactly where heās at. Again, you media people, itās all pretend. Like, no, Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us and thatās a fact. We act like itās not. We live in this la-la world, like āHey, letās not talk...ā I donāt know why. Everybody knows whatās going on.
āSo yeah, Alabama stole our kicker. A couple other schools tried to steal him but thenā¦ OK, what was the question?ā
Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer was asked about Martinās comments hours later and denied that he or his staff did anything wrong in its recruitment of Nicholson.
āHe entered the portal, and we reached out to him,ā DeBoer said. āSo, thatās how it goes, right? We did everything that we were supposed to.ā
During his Lou Groza Award-winning season last year, Nicholson connected on 27 of 28 field-goal attempts and 35 of 37 extra-point tries. He also set an NCAA single-season record with 25 straight made field goals.
Nicholson was brought in to replace departing kicker Will Reichard, who holds the NCAA all-time points record. So far in camp, the Miami-Ohio transfer has drawn positive reviews from DeBoer and the staff.
āHeās been really consistent,ā Deboer said of Nicholson earlier this month. āHonestly, all of our kickers have, but specifically with Grahamā¦ I like his mindset. Heās a very confident guy. I donāt really know how heās going to respond when he misses one. Maybe if, right?
āHeās great to have with us. The team has really accepted him in. I think he feels a part of it. You canāt help but look at what heās done in the past and already know, man, this guy is really good. You can see why each and every day. He has a good process about him. Weāre glad heās here.ā
