Clemson’s Dabo Swinney Accuses Ole Miss of Tampering

Dabo Swinney came to the press furious due to the NIL controversy going on between Clemson and Ole Miss. Former Cal LB Luke Ferrelli committed to Clemson after entering the portal on Jan. 2. The controversy stemmed from Ole Miss coach Pete Golding reaching out to Ferrelli days after the portal closed. Many rumors are coming out that, if true, violate the NCAA tampering rules.

Farrelli’s Initial Committment

Ferrelli’s commitment to Clemson proved to fans and coaches around the world that Swinney might have turned the corner on the transfer portal. The ACC Defensive Freshman of the Year linebacker was being targeted by many schools but decided to commit to Clemson to continue his college career. His NIL deal at Clemson was around $750,000, something to consider in later negotiations.

Prior to visiting Clemson, Ferrelli visited Ole Miss but said “It was a mess. It was unorganized. It was chaos.” The day of the visit he verbally accepted Clemson’s offer and signed a contract a day later. Less than a week after this, Farrelli had an apartment, a car and was taking classes at Clemson. Ole Miss allegedly started communicating with Farrelli and continues to push hard for him. Swinney was warned of the situation and told the agent to warn Golding about tampering, or he would “turn him in.”

Farrelli continues to reassure the coaches at Clemson that he wouldn’t be leaving the day of the transfer portal’s close. Later that same day, on Jan. 16, linebacker coach Ben Boulware showed up to Farrelli’s apartment and Farrelli was standing in his driveway. When they got there, Farrelli stated, “I’m going to Ole Miss,” and disappeared off campus. Days later, it was announced by many sources that he had entered the portal and will be committing to Ole Miss.