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Transfers linger as Alabama opens fall camp

Alabama wide receiver Daylon Charlot (4) runs after making a catch against Louisiana-Monroe cornerback Nick Ingram (44) at Bryant-Denny Stadium in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Saturday Sept. 26, 2015. (Noah Sutton | Special to The Tuscaloosa News)

The University of Alabama football team opens fall camp today, but on the eve of the start of the 2016 season there was some tumult.

Senior defensive back Maurice Smith, who in June released information that he was exploring a transfer from Alabama, was back in the news when his mother spoke with the Atlanta Journal Constitutional about UA’s unwillingness to release her son to Georgia. Later in the day, sophomore wide receiver Daylon Charlot announced his intention to transfer via Twitter.

The AJC’s report cited excerpts of Smith’s letter as part of his appeal to the university to be released. The letter, written by Smith, explained that he felt “ostracized” and that personal contents in his locker were thrown in the trash after he spoke with UA head coach Nick Saban to announce he was transferring. Smith’s letter also asserts that he was barred from the team’s facility for a time.

At SEC Media Days last month, Saban said he’s simply following the SEC’s rule about not allowing graduate transfers to change schools within the league. If Smith wants to play for Georgia, he’d have to sit a season before he would be eligible.

In the AJC report, Smith’s mother did concede that Saban had approved a transfer to Miami just not Georgia, where Smith’s former defensive coordinator and position coach, Kirby Smart and Mel Tucker, respectively, now coach.

The report indicates that the Smiths were made aware in June that Saban did not intend to release Maurice to Georgia. Now in August, a day before the start of Alabama’s fall camp, the family took its story to the media.

Smith is scheduled to graduate with an undergraduate degree this week. Georgia began fall camp Monday while UA opens today.

Through a released note on Twitter that was word for word the same as Christian Bell’s (Bell announced he was transferring from UA last week), Charlot thanked the university, his coaches and his teammates before revealing he intended to transfer.

Alabama takes the field this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. for the first of 25 practices, including two scrimmages. The team reported to camp Wednesday afternoon at 1:30.

Tuesday, as has become a tradition, Saban took the freshmen on the lake for an afternoon of fun on the water with jet skis, his boat and tubes.

“Oh yeah, it was great,” Saban said. “We had lots of fun. This was probably one of the more spirited groups.

“We usually have a lot of cautious people around the water, so they go slow on the jet ski, they want to go slow on the tube. But I was getting (go faster), so I had to say, “Hey guys, you need to slow down a little bit.’ It was a spirited group when it came to it and it created a lot of fun for us.”

Reach Aaron Suttles at aaron@tidesports.com or at 205-722-0229.

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