Dabo Swinney’s 8-minute tampering rant puts college football on notice

Once the face of resisting using the NCAA transfer portal, Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney is now a whistleblower for the wrongdoings in the portal.

The Tigers have landed nine transfers from the portal, with eight of them coming on the defensive side of the ball. However, both of those numbers were each a tick higher earlier this week before the departure of Cal linebacker transfer Luke Ferrelli.

The ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year was committed to Clemson and had even begun participating in workouts and classes before opting to enter his name back into the transfer portal, and take his talents to Ole Miss.

Clemson's camp alleged there was tampering, as many programs do, but Swinney took the podium on Friday and delivered an over eight-minute-long rant. During his rant, he broke down the entire situation, providing quotes from text messages and even revealing how much Ole Miss was offering Ferrelli.

"Pete (Golding) texted him (Ferrelli) on Wednesday morning, the head coach at Ole Miss," Swinney said. "When he was in his 8 a.m. class. And he said the text message said 'I know you're signed, what's the buyout?'...Luke said that coach Golding also texted him a picture of a $1 million contract...Luke also mentioned to Jordan and to Ben that Coach Golding has had Trinidad Chambliss call him from his phone and that coach Golding was there continuing to talk on his phone to re-enter the transfer portal. He also said that Jaxson Dart had reached out and called him."

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

In what is likely the most thorough display of exposing tampering in recent memory, those around college football flooded social media with nothing but praise for Swinney for shedding light on what is likely happening all over the country.

"Gotta say Dabo giving unprecedented details here. Good for him. I’m sure there are so many stories like this Wow just wow," wrote ESPN's Booger McFarland.

"Good for Dabo. Bring those receipts," wrote CBS' Danny Kannell.

"Well, somebody finally did it. If this doesn't change the sport in some way, nothing will," said The Athletic's Manny Navarro.

"I’m in full support of coaches publicly calling stuff like this out. It’s simply better for the sport from both an ethical perspective and an entertainment perspective," commented another user.

"Between this and the legal battle over Darian Mensah… man, it feels like we have reached a major inflection point in this sport," suggested On3's Parker Thune.

Dabo Swinney is going nuclear on Ole Miss
— Josh Pate (@JoshPateCFB) January 23, 2026

"Nah S/o to Dabo Swinney for standing on business. He completely right about the CFB schedule & tampering," added another.

"That was the most epic Dabo Swinney rant I've ever heard. Kudos for saying something," commented one user.

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. — Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney during the Pinstipe Bowl practice in Clemson, S.C. Monday, Dec. 15, 2025. | Ken Ruinard / USA Today Co / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It's unclear what will come of this situation, but Swinney said he contacted both the ACC and SEC.

Yahoo's Ross Dellenger also confirmed that he was told by an SEC official that the conference was considering "conference-level enforcement" amid the tampering in the sport running rampant.

Needless to say, Swinney may have pushed over a major domino that leads to some sort of change.