DeBoer: Bama didn’t ‘take’ Miami (Ohio) kicker

Aug 23, 2024, 01:04 PM ET Miami (Ohio) coach Chuck Martin has actually accused Alabama of “unlawfully” recruiting All-America place-kicker Graham Nicholson, a charge that Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer denies.Martin made the

allegation after being asked in a video for the school site about “losing” his star kicker through the transfer portal. Nicholson, who won the Lou Groza Award as the country’s leading place-kicker last season, is replacing Will Reichard at preseason No. 5 Alabama, which opens the season Aug. 31 against Western Kentucky.

“We didn’t lose him,” Martin stated. “He’s at Alabama. We understand exactly where he’s at. You media individuals, it’s all pretend. Like, no, Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally hired our kicker and stole him from us.

“That’s a truth. But we act like it’s not. … We reside in this la-la-type world, like, hi, let’s not talk [truth] I do not understand why. Everybody understands what’s going on. Alabama took our kicker. A number of other schools attempted to take him.”

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1 Related DeBoer said after practice Thursday that Alabama followed the correct procedures.

“He got in the portal, and we connected to him,” the Crimson Tide coach stated. “That’s how that goes, right? So we did everything the method you’re expected to.”

Nicholson made 27 of 28 basket last season for the RedHawks and all but among his 36 extra-point efforts. He was the very first Lou Groza Award winner from the Mid-American Conference.Reichard, who was drafted in the sixth round by the Minnesota Vikings, set the FBS record for profession points with 547 during his Alabama profession.