Will NCAA look into Clemson's tampering claim vs Ole Miss, Pete Golding? Latest update
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CLEMSON — Dabo Swinney surprised many in the college football world by publicly calling out Ole Miss and Rebels coach Pete Golding on Jan. 23 for what the Clemson football coach said was tampering with transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli.
Swinney said he submitted the claim to the NCAA and was awaiting the organization’s ruling.
A Clemson football spokesperson told The Greenville News Jan. 27 that Clemson “remains in communication” with the NCAA.
Clemson football lost Ferrelli, a Cal linebacker who transferred to Clemson on Jan. 7, then re-entered the portal on Jan. 16 to transfer to Ole Miss on Jan. 22. Swinney said Golding was contacting Ferrelli despite him transferring to Clemson, being enrolled in classes and participating in team workouts.
Ole Miss has not responded to a request for comment about Swinney’s allegations regarding Golding and Ferrelli.
Did NCAA respond to Clemson’s tampering claim against Ole Miss?
On3 and The Athletic reported NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan released a statement regarding Clemson’s claim against Ole Miss: “The NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules. We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation.”
Swinney is optimistic that Clemson’s claim will be successful.
“I’m gonna let the NCAA handle this, and I’m gonna let them do their job,” Swinney said. “I’ll say this, this shouldn’t be a three-year or three-month investigation. This might take three days. They’re either going to tell the truth or they’re gonna lie.”
Did Ole Miss tamper with Luke Ferrelli?
Swinney presented a timeline of events of what happened with Ferrelli, detailing when the linebacker visited and transferred to Clemson, when Ole Miss began contacting him and when he decided to re-enter the portal.
This led to Swinney calling Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, who called SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, and turned the evidence into the NCAA for tampering.
“There’s tampering, and then 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 with the kids not in the portal.
“Tampering 301 is when you got a kid who’s going in the portal, signed somewhere, moved there, going to classes and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole other level of tampering.”
Why did Dabo Swinney publicly call out Ole Miss, Pete Golding?
College football coaches are vocal about tampering in the transfer portal and high-school recruiting, but they rarely call out schools or coaches like Swinney did.
Swinney said he called out Ole Miss to protect Clemson from future acts of tampering and for the betterment of the sport.
“It’s about the message that is being sent if this blatant tampering is allowed to happen without any consequences,” Swinney said. “This is about protecting our program. This is about college football.”
What is tampering?
Tampering in college athletics is when teams contact players who are on other teams. That is against the rules.
In many cases, teams will do that to try to get players into the transfer portal. However, accusations are rarely publicized.
Teams are not allowed to tamper with athletes, according to NCAA bylaw 13.1.1.4. Here’s what the full rule says:
“An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall not communicate or make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA Division I institution, or any individual associated with the student-athlete (e.g., family member, scholastic or nonscholastic coach, advisor), directly or indirectly, without first obtaining authorization through the notification of transfer process. Before making contact, directly or indirectly, with a student-athlete of an NCAA Division II or Division III institution, or an NAIA four-year collegiate institution, an athletics staff member or other representative of the institution’s athletics interests shall comply with the rule of the applicable division or the NAIA rule for making contact with a student-athlete.”
Who is Luke Ferrelli?
Ferrelli is the ACC defensive rookie of the year for 2025. He logged 91 tackles, including five for loss and one sack, an interception and one pass breakup in 13 games in 2025 for Cal. He led all freshmen in tackles (87) and finished second among all ACC freshmen in tackles for loss (five).
With Ferrelli gone, Clemson’s linebackers are Sammy Brown, Jeremiah Alexander, Kobe McCloud, Fletcher Cothran, C.J. Kubah-Taylor, Drew Woodaz, Logan Anderson, freshman signee Brayden Reilly and Joseph Roberto II.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dabo Swinney tampering claim vs Ole Miss, Pete Golding latest news
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