Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney came to his Friday news conference with receipts. He rifled through them while accusing Ole Miss and its new head coach, Pete Golding, of tampering.
The serious allegations Swinney leveled arrive in the wake of former Cal linebacker Luke Ferrelli committing to and signing with the Tigers out of the transfer portal before re-entering the portal and joining the Rebels.
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While Swinney blamed “the adults” and said he feels sorry for Ferrelli, he compared the whole situation to “having an affair on your honeymoon.” Swinney explained that Ferrelli had already moved to Clemson, bought a car, rented an apartment and attended class for a week.
Actually, class is where Swinney said Ferrelli received a text from Golding, who was asking what the linebacker’s buyout was at Clemson. Ole Miss ultimately offered Ferrelli a two-year, $2 million contract, according to Swinney.
The longtime Clemson head coach went detail-by-detail after re-introducing offensive coordinator Chad Morris, who is back with the program and looking to spark the Tigers’ offense like he did when he served as the team’s OC from 2011-14. Swinney dove into an 11-some-minute breakdown of the Ferrelli situation, exposing Ole Miss and Golding following their remarkable run to the College Football Playoff semifinals.
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Afterward, he made something abundantly clear.
“I want to challenge all of those coaches that have reached out to me [about other instances of tampering]. I want to challenge all of ’em,” he said. “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.”
Dabo unpacks timeline
While referring to prepared documents, Swinney called out dates and times regarding communication between Ferrelli, Clemson and Ole Miss.
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Here’s the timeline he described…
The beginning of the saga
Jan. 4: Clemson general manager Jordan Sorrells had his first conversation with Ferrelli’s agent.
Jan. 5: Ferrelli showed up to Clemson for his official visit. Swinney said this is when he first met the soon-to-be third-year linebacker. Swinney explained that Ferrelli and his dad were coming off a portal visit to Ole Miss.
“I said, ‘How was the visit?’” Swinney recounted Friday. “And his dad said, ‘Not good.’ He said it was a mess, it was unorganized, it was chaos. The building was a mess. Nobody knew what was going on. And I was like, ‘Well, I look forward to y’all seeing Clemson tomorrow.’”
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Jan. 6: Ferrelli took his visit to Clemson, and he, along with his agent and dad, verbally accepted the terms of the offer and made a commitment to the Tigers.
“We were going to take one linebacker. … So we got our linebacker,” Swinney said. “We canceled all the visits of all the other guys that we were going to schedule to come in throughout the rest of the week because [we] were done.”
Later that day, Ferrelli and his dad flew back to California.
Jan. 7: Ferrelli signed his financial aid agreement with Clemson.
Jan. 11: Ferrelli moved to Clemson.
“Rents an apartment, buys a car, goes to class for a week. He’s in training for a week, team meeting, position meeting, all that,” Swinney said.
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Jan. 14: Ferrelli’s agent called Sorrells and let the Clemson GM know that Ole Miss has been pursuing Ferrelli. Swinney said that the agent assured Sorrells that Ferrelli had no intention of leaving Clemson.
A text from Golding; calls from QBs Trinidad Chambliss, Jaxson Dart
Jan. 15: Sorrells informed Swinney about the conversation he had with Ferrelli’s agent the previous night. Swinney then told Sorrells to contact Ole Miss GM Austin Thomas.
“I said, ‘Listen, this guy has been a head coach for four weeks,’” Swinney said, alluding to Golding, who took over for Lane Kiffin after Kiffin took the head-coaching job at LSU. “I said, ‘You reach out to the GM. I’m going to give him some grace, and you let him know that we know what’s going on. And if he doesn’t cease communication, I’m going to turn him in.’ I really thought that would be the end of it, but it wasn’t.”
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Swinney said Sorrells got in touch with Thomas, Ole Miss’ GM, and reiterated Clemson’s stance on the situation. Thomas told Sorrells that he communicated to Ferrelli’s agent that he wanted no part of the engagement, and that his relationship with Sorrells was more important to him than the recruitment of Ferrelli, per Swinney.
Thomas added, though, that “Pete Golding just does what he does,” according to Swinney.
Linebacker Luke Ferrelli (41), pictured while playing for the California Golden Bears, is now with Ole Miss after a complicated transfer journey. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
(Thearon W. Henderson via Getty Images)
Later that afternoon, Sorrells and Clemson linebackers coach Ben Boulware met with Ferrelli, who told them that Golding texted him the previous morning during his 8 a.m. class.
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“He said the text message said, ‘I know you’re signed. What’s the buyout?’ And he also said that Coach Golding also texted him a picture of a $1 million contract,” Swinney said.
Additionally, Ferrelli noted that Golding had quarterback Trinidad Chambliss talk to him on the phone, and that current New York Giants and former Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart also reached out and called him.
At the time, however, Ferrelli maintained his commitment to Clemson.
When everything unraveled for Clemson
Jan. 16: Clemson held a staff meeting on the final day of the portal window. That morning, Ferrelli called his position coach, Boulware, and told him Ole Miss had reached out again, this time doubling its offer to two years, $2 million.
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That afternoon, Sorrells spoke with Ferrelli’s agent, who confirmed that Golding had continued to communicate with Ferrelli and had raised the offer.
“The agent communicated that if we were to add a second year at a million dollars to the already agreed upon deal with [Ferrelli], then they would gladly give us whatever we need in order to turn Ole Miss in,” Swinney said.
Sorrells rejected that arrangement, per Swinney. Then he talked with Ferrelli outside the facility, and Ferrelli still confirmed that he was planning on playing at Clemson.
But hours later, Sorrells got a call from Clemson’s compliance office, telling him that Ferrelli was requesting to re-enter the transfer portal. At this point, Swinney said he called Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, who Swinney said called SEC commissioner Greg Sankey.
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Eventually, Sorrells and a Clemson coach turned up to Ferrelli’s apartment, of which Ferrelli was in the driveway and told them he was going to Ole Miss.
Ferrelli later notified Boulware and Clemson defensive coordinator Tom Allen that he was hitting the portal before relaying the same news to Swinney himself.
Dabo bashes Ole Miss, Golding for ‘tampering 301’
Once Swinney finished running through the receipts, he opined — about the situation and, more generally, about college football and its lack of regulation during the NIL and transfer portal era.
The two-time national champion head coach did so fearlessly.
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“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, going to classes, and you’re texting ’em 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 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 added: “We have a broken system, and if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules and we have no governance. It’s really just that simple.”
Swinney emphasized that he’s not just discussing a linebacker at Clemson or trying to get anyone fired.
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“But let me tell you what it is about,” he said. “It’s about the next kid, and it’s about the message that is being sent if this blatant tampering is allowed to happen without any consequences.
“This is about protecting our program. This is about college football. That’s what this is about.”
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