What to make of comments about tampering from current, former Alabama players

Alabama found itself in a unique situation earlier this month after Nick Saban announced his retirement. It was the first day of classes, and that decision opened a 30-day transfer portal window for Crimson Tide players.

Some big names, such as Caleb Downs and Kadyn Proctor, decided to take their talents elsewhere. Proctor made headlines, though, when he said Iowa “hit him up” while he was struggling — leading to tampering allegations. Although Tyler Booker didn’t transfer, he said he, too, heard from some teams during the year.

Allegations of tampering have been prevalent since transfers could play immediately instead of taking a year off. However, the NCAA has yet to issue many penalties as a result of those accusations. That’s why BOL’s Tim Watts said he doesn’t know what the response to those comments will be. But the tampering allegations are still out there.

“The poor guy interviewed Proctor and he just said, ‘Yeah, Iowa was in contact with me the whole year.’ I’m not sure what’s gonna become of that,” Watts told Andy Staples on Andy Staples On3. “So I think we’ve got some obvious tampering going on because Booker said it, too. He had coaches reaching out to him and contacting him.

“So what’s eventually going to happen is some school’s going to send, you know, a screenshot of a text and send it somewhere out in the public. You got to be quite the dilrod to be a coach and text these players. But I know it is happening. … You cannot be directly contacting. You gotta be the dumbest human being on Earth to just think that’s a safe move.”

How a potential 30-day transfer portal window at Michigan would be different than Alabama

There continues to be chatter at Michigan about what Jim Harbaugh will do next. NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported the Los Angeles Chargers are in “striking distance” with Harbaugh about hiring him as their next head coach. If that happens, there would be another opening — and another portal window.

That situation, though, would be different than at Alabama after Saban retired. Michigan’s successor could already be on staff if the Wolverines give offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore the job. By promoting from within, that could make it easy to hold on to some of the players considering the portal if Harbaugh leaves.

At Alabama, Saban’s successor wasn’t in-house. The Crimson Tide had to go to Seattle for that, landing former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer. It also meant the rest of the staff saw some turnover, and that also played a role in the amount of transfers, according to Watts. The best example of that is Downs, who ended up leaving for Ohio State as the No. 1 player in the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings.

“These kids that were recruited — you look at Caleb Downs,” Watts said. “I tell people, and I’m not gonna be harsh on anybody that wants to wants to hit the portal or do whatever they need to do. But Caleb Downs lost Charles Kelly, Pete Golding was in the recruiting process at one time for him, he lost Charles Kelly, he lost T-Rob [Travaris Robinson], he lost Kevin Steele and he lost Nick Saban. I mean, basically everybody kind of associated with Caleb, you know, was gone. So I can kind of see his angle that maybe he wanted to try somewhere else and get out of the south.

“I did find it interesting Georgia was so prevalent to be the leader when … Ohio State finished second. We don’t even know if Georgia finished third because the question was, who did Alabama beat? And he said they beat Ohio State. We knew the one-two, we don’t even know where that sat. But yeah, I mean, just tough decisions for kids, having to make them quick. So all of it’s very interesting.”