Dabo Swinney Comments on Tampering Allegations Against Pete Golding, Ole Miss Rebels

Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney took the college football world by storm in January after accusing the Ole Miss Rebels program of "blatant" tampering following the signing of Cal Bears transfer Luke Ferrelli.

During a routine press conference with the Clemson media last month, Swinney walked reporters through the situation where Ferrelli initially departed the Cal Bears for the NCAA Transfer Portal - then signed with Clemson.

Following a short stint with Clemson where he was enrolled with the university, Ferrelli then elected to to re-enter the free agent market where he signed with Ole Miss.

“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 with the kids not in the portal.

“Tampering 301 is when you’ve got a kid who’s going in the portal to sign somewhere, move there, going to classes and you’re texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole ‘nother level of tampering.”

Ole Miss Football. — Courtesy of Ole Miss Rebels Football.

Now, as the dust settles following the situation last month - with Ferrelli now enrolled at Ole Miss navigating offseason workouts - Swinney has commented further on the situation.

On Thursday, Swinney revealed whether he’s had any communication with Golding since making his public allegations on the Ole Miss program.

“No, I don’t know him,” Swinney said - where he also stated that the NCAA hadn’t provided an update on its investigation into the situation.

During his press conference last month, Swinney stated that Ole Miss sent Ferrelli a photo of an apparent $1 million, one-year contract offer.

Clemson's shot-caller alleged that Ole Miss raised its offer to $2 million over two years and Ferrelli ultimately committed to Ole Miss where he then took the podium with tampering allegations.

“I am not going to let someone flat out tamper with my program,” Swinney said. “If you tamper with my players, I’m going to turn you in. There’s a lot more I can say, but I’m going to let the NCAA do its job.”

Dabo Swinney went on a massive rant against Ole Miss, Pete Golding, Rebels GM Austin Thomas for blatant tampering with Luke Ferrelli

Dabo just put Ole Miss on blast, saying Pete Golding offered him a $1 million contract while in class at Clemson.

“Like having an affair on your… pic.twitter.com/ivmndCCSDg
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace) January 23, 2026

Since the situation unfolded, the NCAA's VP of Enforcement - Jonathan Duncan - recently announced the organization's plans to aggressively pursue tampering allegations moving forward.

“NCAA staff from enforcement, hearing operations, and governance and membership services will work with Geoff Mearns, president of Ball State and chair of the Division I Board of Directors Infractions Process Committee, and an infractions modernization task force to propose policy changes to expedite the resolution of rules violations and make other improvements,” Duncan’s announcement read, per Yahoo Sports‘ Ross Dellenger.

“It is our sincerest hope that these potential policy and rules changes will better serve the new era of Division I while balancing fairness and efficiency to meet membership expectations.

“In the meantime, the national office will work to speed up the infractions process within the existing rules. This will include streamlining various stages of an investigation, such as collecting information from schools or student-athletes more quickly, conducting interviews on a shorter schedule and/or limiting extension requests often made by parties in infractions cases.”

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