The NCAA is looking into tampering claims against Ole Miss brought by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, according to a statement released to The Athletic.
“The NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules,” NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan told the site. “We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation.”
Swinney, of course, forced the organization's hand by detailing, blow-by-blow, in a press conference how Ole Miss recruited Cal transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli -- including Rebels head coach Pete Golding allegedly texting Ferrelli while he was sitting in a Clemson classroom.
"I know you're signed. What's the buyout?," Swinney read, in a text allegedly sent from Golding to Ferrelli. “Tampering 301 is when you’ve got a kid who’s going in the portal to sign somewhere, get them to move there, going to classes and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole other level of tampering."
The retort will be that Ole Miss and Golding aren't doing anything different than [insert program here] and [insert head coach here] have allegedly done to get their own players. Golding has likely been on the other end of this, starting with the four former Rebels who mysteriously landed with Lane Kiffin at LSU.
But in a twist on the old coaching adage: You're either policing it, or you're allowing it to happen.
“The NCAA quite frankly was surprised that a school was willing to come forward as directly and transparently as we have,” Clemson AD Graham Neff told The Athletic. “Normally, there’s a lot of complaints in the media, hearsay amongst the industry, etcetera. Very little actually gets reported (from the schools). That’s coming from the NCAA directly. And so we’re very eager and resolute to do so.”
Clemson has not backed down from the stance it took Friday, leaving Ferrelli's bio up on its online roster and linking to Swinney's diatribe from Friday.
Swinney quoted directly from text messages sent to Clemson general manager Jordan Sorrells and his Ole Miss counterpart Austin Thomas in speaking to the press on Friday. Those text messages have undoubtedly been forward to the NCAA.
The onus is now on the NCAA. If the organization does nothing, lawlessness will become an official policy of the governing body of college athletics.
Stay tuned.