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- Former Louisville wide receiver Tyler Harrell transferred to Alabama during the offseason.
- His former head coach believes that the Crimson Tide tampered in the process.
- Nick Saban says no.
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Ever since the transfer portal was introduced in 2018, the one-time transfer rule has brought tampering allegations along with it. College football coaches, even though it is a violation of NCAA rules, can fairly easily approach a player, either directly or indirectly, and attempt to lure him away from another program.
Of the many coaches who believe that tampering is happening across the country, Louisville football head coach Scott Satterfield is one of them. In fact, he thinks that there has been tampering within his program recently.
Specifically, Satterfield is of the belief that Alabama and its staff tampered with former Cardinals wide receiver Tyler Harrell and got him to transfer to the Crimson Tide.
In a recent conversation with 247 Sports, the fourth-year head coach at Louisville said that he “believes (tampering) occurred” with Harrell’s decision to transfer. He admitted that there is “little he can prove,” but he is confident that it happened.
“I think it’s not only him, it’s happened before here,” Satterfield said. “Last year we had a few guys that jumped into the portal and the next day they’re announcing where they’re going. You can look at that and know that something went on before they were in the portal.”
Nick Saban vehemently denies any such accusation of tampering with Harrell.
Harrell, a former three-star recruit, is ridiculously fast. He provides an instant boost to a Crimson Tide offense that has to replace two top-50 NFL Draft picks at the position.
The speedy receiver entered the transfer portal on April 12th, but rumors about his next destination had been floating around the internet for a few days prior to his name officially appearing in the portal. It was widely anticipated that Harrell would transfer to Alabama.
10 days later, that’s exactly what happened. Saban spoke about the allegations on Wednesday morning and kept his response short and sweet.
Whether Alabama actually tampered or not, we may never know. Do you believe Satterfield or Saban?