Nick Saban simply does not care now that he is retired from coaching at Alabama. He admitted to tampering with West Virginia offensive lineman Wyatt Milum while at the NFL Draft.
It was the second year in a row that he made this kind of admission!
Saban, the greatest coach in college football history, joined the College Gameday crew on ESPN’s college-focused broadcast of the NFL Draft. Milum was picked No. 89 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The former Mountaineers tackle stands 6-foot-6, 313 pounds. He was ranked as the No. 15 player at his position in the recruiting Class of 2021 as a four-star prospect. Although Saban and the Crimson Tide made a big push for the West Virginia-native out of high school, Milum decided to stay home and turned them down.
And then it did it again. And then for a third time!
Nick Saban spoke about his affinity for Wyatt Milum during the third round on Friday. He loves everything about him. How could you not?
Saban really wanted Milum to play at Alabama and repeatedly tried to get him to reconsider his decision.
Another one of those recruits that we lost. But you know, we tried to get this guy every year in the portal, even when we didn’t get him out of high school.
— Nick Saban
There is only one problem with this account. At no point during his college football career did the big left tackle enter the transfer portal. Thus, any attempt to get him to transfer was a tampering violation.
Saban actually said the same thing about former Toledo cornerback Quinyon Mitchell last year. The Crimson Tide tried to lure him into the transfer portal. He didn’t bite.
Neither did Milum, who played all four years at West Virginia. Nick Saban’s tampering proved ineffective.
Now, I should note that there is a chance that this “trying to get this guy every year in the portal” might not mean what we think. Technically speaking, Saban did not say that he tried to lure Mitchell or Milum into the portal. He said that Alabama tried to get them in/out of the portal.
Maybe he meant that the Crimson Tide was ready to do whatever it took to land their commitments after they entered the transfer portal, but they never had the opportunity to do so because they didn’t enter the portal. It sure doesn’t seem that way. It sounds like tampering to me! Nick Saban doesn’t care.