Dabo Swinney Accuses Ole Miss of Tampering with Clemson Player Luke Ferrelli
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Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney has long resisted the direction college football has taken with the transfer portal and Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) in recent years, and now he has drawn a clear line in the sand.
Swinney used his Friday press conference to publicly accuse the Ole Miss Rebels and head coach Pete Golding of blatant tampering involving former California Golden Bears linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who originally signed with the Tigers out of the portal.
Ferrelli, the 2025 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year, signed with Clemson on Jan. 7 and moved to campus days later. But just over a week after arriving, Ferrelli left the program and committed to Ole Miss.
Swinney didn’t hold back in explaining how it happened, spending over an hour detailing the sequence of events that led to Clemson turning Ole Miss in for tampering.
“There’s tampering, and there’s blatant tampering,” Swinney said. “Tampering 101 is when you’re talking to kids who aren’t in the portal.
“Tampering 201 is when you’ve already negotiated the deal when the kid’s not in the portal.
“Tampering 301 is when you’ve got a kid who’s gone in the portal, signed somewhere, moved there, gone to classes and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole other level of tampering.”
According to Swinney, Ole Miss assistant coaches and players, including former Rebels quarterback and current New York Giants signal-caller Jaxson Dart, contacted Ferrelli while he was enrolled at Clemson.
Swinney said Golding directly texted Ferrelli during an 8 a.m. class, asking, “What’s the buyout?” and followed with an image of a $1 million contract.
Dabo Swinney went on a massive rant against Ole Miss, Pete Golding, Rebels GM Austin Thomas for blatant tampering with Luke Ferrelli
Dabo just put Ole Miss on blast, saying Pete Golding offered him a $1 million contract while in class at Clemson.
“Like having an affair on your… pic.twitter.com/ivmndCCSDg
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) January 23, 2026
Ferrelli’s agent reportedly told Clemson that the offer was later increased to two years, $2 million. When Clemson declined to match it, Ferrelli reentered the portal.
Swinney said Clemson immediately turned Ole Miss in to the NCAA and will continue to do so in future cases.
“I’m not going to let someone flat out tamper with my program,” Swinney said. “If you tamper with my players, I’m going to turn you in.”
Swinney added that NCAA officials were “surprised” by Clemson’s transparency and confirmed that many schools had privately voiced tampering concerns but avoided filing formal complaints.
“If we have rules, and tampering is a rule, then there should be consequences for that,” Swinney said. “Maybe this is a tipping point.”
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This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Jan 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the College Football section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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