Nick Saban denies Scott Satterfield's tampering claims over ex-Louisville WR Tyler Harrell

Prior to teeing off in a pro-am golf event Wednesday, Alabama football coach Nick Saban denied that anyone within the Crimson Tide program contacted Louisville wide receiver Tyler Harrell before he entered the transfer portal in April, as coach Scott Satterfield suggested in last week in a report from 247Sports.

Satterfield stopped short of accusing Alabama of tampering outright but suggested Harrell's 10-day stint in the transfer portal before choosing the Crimson Tide as his next destination was no coincidence. NCAA rules prohibit coaches and athletic departments from directly or indirectly contacting players before their names are in the portal.

"I think it’s not only him, it’s happened before here," Satterfield told 247Sports. "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."

Report: Louisville football's Scott Satterfield suggests Alabama tampered with WR Tyler Harrell

When asked about Satterfield's comments Wednesday, Saban said: "We don't tamper with anybody," according to a video from Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, from Nick Kelly of the Tuscaloosa News.

"I don't know of anything or anybody that tampered with him. I don't really know that anybody's ever tampered with our players. I just think sometimes, when things happen, it makes you wonder. I'm not making any accusations against anybody that's done anything with our players and I don't have any knowledge of anybody that's done anything with anybody else's players."

Saban has been an outspoken critic of the transfer portal in its current iteration. In February, he told CBS Sports HQ: "A guy shouldn’t be able to leave their team during the season."

"That’s not a good thing. I grew up in a time where, my dad said, 'You never quit anything. You’ve got to finish what you start.'"

Speaking about the portal Wednesday, Saban acknowledged "it's really hard to control third parties, whether it's direct or indirect."

"When you have a guy leave your program and go someplace else the day after the game … I don’t have any evidence that anything happened, and I’m not making accusations, but it makes you wonder I guess. But hopefully, we have enough honesty and integrity out there amongst us professionally in our sport that people are going to abide by the rules."

Harrell left Louisville after a breakout season for the Cardinals in 2021 as a redshirt sophomore after appearing in just four games combined between 2018 and 2019. The 6-foot, 197-pound South Florida native led U of L with six receiving touchdowns and was third on the team with 523 receiving yards.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Alabama's Nick Saban denies Scott Satterfield's tampering claims