Ole Miss appears to have committed an egregious case of tampering to convince a player to transfer to Ole Miss after he had already enrolled at Clemson, and Dabo Swinney isn’t shying away from calling it out.
During a press conference on Friday, Swinney accused Ole Miss and new head coach Pete Golding of what he described as “blatant tampering” with transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli. The outspoken Clemson coach came with receipts, offering time-stamped details of how Ole Miss convinced Ferrelli, who originally transferred to Clemson from Cal, to leave Clemson and sign with Ole Miss after he had already enrolled at Clemson.
Per Swinney, Ferrelli’s agent, Ryan Williams of Athletes First, called Clemson general manager Jordan Sorrells on Jan. 14 – a week after Ferrelli signed with Clemson – to convey that Ole Miss was “coming hard after Luke.” Swinney instructed Sorrells to contact Ole Miss general manager Austin Thomas and tell Thomas that Clemson would turn Ole Miss in for tampering if Ole Miss did not cease communication with Ferrelli, who had already moved to Clemson, enrolled in classes and begun workouts with the team.
When Sorrells and Clemson linebackers coach Ben Boulware met with Ferrelli the following day, Ferrelli informed them that Golding had texted him saying, “I know you’re signed, what’s the buyout?” along with a picture of a $1 million contract. Ferrelli relayed to Boulware and Sorrells that Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss and former Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart also reached out to Ferrelli to try to convince him to flip to Ole Miss, but Ferrelli told Sorrells that he had no intention of leaving Clemson.
One day later, Ferrelli told Boulware that Ole Miss had doubled its offer to $2 million, but Ferrelli maintained again that he would remain at Clemson. When Sorrells asked Ferrelli to provide the messages he received from Ole Miss as evidence of tampering, however, Williams instructed Ferrelli not to do so, instead telling Clemson that they “would gladly give us whatever we need in order to turn Ole Miss in” if Clemson added another year at $1 million to the deal Ferrelli had already signed with the Tigers. Clemson declined.
Later that afternoon, Ferrelli went to Clemson’s compliance office and requested to re-enter the transfer portal.
Swinney said Clemson has turned in all of its evidence that Ole Miss tampered with Ferrelli to the NCAA.
“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 when the kid’s not in the portal. Tampering 301 is when you got a kid who's gone in the portal, signed somewhere, moved there, gone to classes, and you still, you're texting them while they're in class. That's like a whole nother level of tampering.
“And it's total hypocrisy, because all this is going on while they, on the other side, are trying to fight their defensive end (Princewill Umanmielen, who transferred to LSU) from going in the portal. They have accused publicly others of tampering with their roster and their players while they are over here tampering.”
Swinney hopes the NCAA takes swift action against Ole Miss.
“This shouldn't be a three-year or a three-month investigation; this might take three days. They're either gonna tell the truth or they're gonna lie,” Swinney said. “I'm not out to get anybody fired, but there has to be accountability and consequences for this type of behavior and total disregard for the rules. If this happened in the NFL, which is an actual league with rules, they would be fined. They would take draft picks. They hit the cap, whatever. Again, I'm not trying to get anybody fired. I just want accountability, and there should be consequences for a total disregard for the rules.”
Swinney also wants to see other coaches call out examples of tampering when they see it.
“I've had a bunch of coaches over the last week that have reached out to me and they're going, ‘Well, let me tell you what's happened to me. Let me tell you what I know.
Let me tell you my story.’ I've had a lot of people reach out with their stories, and so I want to challenge all of those coaches that have reached out to me. I want to challenge all of them: You need to step up and call it out. Otherwise, don't complain.
“You either step up, and you be an example to young coaches in this profession and be people of integrity, or just shut your mouth and don't complain again. That's what I would say to all the coaches out there. Because I know this has happened. And we're never going to get this under control until we start having some consequences.”
Ferrelli, who recorded 91 tackles with five tackles for loss, one sack and an interception as a redshirt freshman last season at Cal, officially signed with Ole Miss on Friday.
Jon Duncan, the NCAA’s vice president of enforcement, told On3’s Pete Nakos in a statement that “the NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules,” but declined further comment on the ongoing investigation.
