NCAA Investigating Dabo Swinney's Tampering Accusations Against Ole Miss in CFB Transfer Portal

The NCAA is getting involved after Clemson coach Dabo Swinney alleged Ole Miss' Pete Golding tampered with transfer target Luke Ferrelli.

"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 said to The Athletic's Grace Raynor. "We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation."

Ferrelli entered the transfer portal after spending the last two seasons at California. The redshirt freshman linebacker had 91 tackles, five tackles for loss and an interception in 13 appearances in 2025.

Ferrelli initially committed to Clemson before re-entering the portal and picking Ole Miss.

"This is a whole other level of tampering," Swinney told reporters last week. "It's total hypocrisy. ... This is a really sad state of affairs. We have a broken system, and if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance."

The coach also laid out what he believes to be the timeline of events:

Tigers general manager Jordan Sorrells was alerted to Ole Miss' purported pursuit of Ferrelli despite the player being enrolled at Clemson. Ferrelli subsequently told Sorrells that Golding had texted him on Jan. 14 asking about the buyout required to separate from Clemson. The Ole Miss coach allegedly shared a photo of a $1 million NIL contract.

Former Ole Miss quarterbacks Jaxson Dart and Trinidad Chambliss also allegedly spoke with Ferrelli to sell him on the program. The Rebels increased their NIL offer to $2 million over two years as well.

Whatever happened in the interim, Ferrelli was back in the portal before the Jan. 16 deadline and is poised to play for the Rebels in 2026.

A formal NCAA investigation should at least bring more clarity to the situation.

Because Ferrelli isn't a totally isolated case, this matter could help to bring some structure to the portal that's clearly lacking, too.

Talented pass-rusher Princewill Umanmielen looked set to stay at Ole Miss before turning around and committing to SEC rival LSU. Duke just resolved its stalemate with star quarterback Darian Mensah, who's likely on his way to Miami after first pledging his future to the Blue Devils. Quarterback Demond Williams Jr. unsuccessfully attempted to void his agreement with Washington and transfer out.

It's not difficult to understand the frustration of Swinney and other coaches who are seeing NIL contracts count for very little at times.