There was no contact with new Alabama wide receiver Tyler Harrell before he transferred from Louisville, Crimson Tide head coach Nick Saban insisted on Wednesday.
Saban said he was not aware of contact with Harrell, one of several high-profile transfers landed by the runner-up to national champion Georgia since the 2021 season ended.
“We don’t tamper with anybody,” Saban said at a golf outing in Birmingham.
Louisville coach Scott Satterfield believes otherwise, but said this week he couldn’t prove it. Saban did admit it would be difficult for any program to control all “third party” contact with other team’s players.
Harrell caught 18 passes for 523 yards and six touchdowns last season. He committed to Alabama on April 22 after entering the portal on April 12.
“I don’t know of anybody that tampered with him,” Saban said. “You know, I don’t really know that anybody’s ever tampered with our players. I just think sometimes when things happen it makes you wonder. So I’m not making any accusations against anybody that’s done anything to our players and I don’t have any knowledge of anybody that’s done anything with anybody else’s players.”
Alabama also added Georgia’s top receiver the past two seasons, Jermaine Burton, and Georgia Tech running back Jahmyr Gibbs in addition to All-SEC cornerback Eli Ricks from LSU.
“You have to be able to adapt to whatever the circumstance is, and that’s certainly what we were trying to do,” Saban said.