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How Shane Beamer said Dabo Swinney calling out Ole Miss on tampering may change recruiting
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- How Shane Beamer said Dabo Swinney calling out Ole Miss on tampering may change recruiting
Dabo Swinney shocked the college football world by calling out Ole Miss and Rebels coach Pete Golding on Jan. 23 for what the Clemson football coach said was tampering with transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli .
South Carolina football coach Shane Beamer agreed with Swinney's public plea to help curb tampering.
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"What Dabo did? Yes, absolutely, being able to call it out, and I'm sure he, like other schools, turns stuff in when there's issues and if there's issues with something," Beamer said Feb. 4 during a news conference. "... I think a lot of those conversations happen head coach to head coach. Then, if there's things that need to be turned into the NCAA or the SEC, we have, but certainly to be able to call someone out publicly like that was the next step, and we'll see what happens."
Clemson lost Ferrelli, a Cal linebacker who is the ACC's defensive rookie of the year, to Ole Miss . He transferred to Clemson on Jan. 7, then re-entered the portal on Jan. 16 to transfer to Ole Miss on Jan. 22.
Swinney said Golding was contacting Ferrelli despite him transferring to Clemson, being enrolled in classes and participating in team workouts. Swinney stated that Golding texted Ferrelli while he was in class at 8 a.m. saying, "I know you're signed. What's the buyout?" with a photo of a $1 million contract.
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Swinney submitted the claim to the NCAA and is awaiting the organization's ruling. Ole Miss has not responded to a request for comment about Swinney's allegations regarding Golding and Ferrelli.
"I'm gonna let the NCAA handle this, and I'm gonna let them do their job," Swinney said in January. "I'll say this, this shouldn't be a three-year or three-month investigation. This might take three days. They're either going to tell the truth or they're gonna lie."
Beamer said if Swinney's tampering claim is true, it should warrant a "severe" penalty.
MORE: Clemson football national signing day live updates for Dabo Swinney, 2026 recruiting
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"I would say that myself and every coach in America is sitting around waiting to see what's going to happen in regards to that situation because if it's proven that that did happen, and then nothing happens, then you think it's the 'Wild, Wild West' now, just wait what it's going to turn into," Beamer said.
Did NCAA respond to Clemson's tampering claim against Ole Miss?
On3 and The Athletic reported NCAA vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan released a statement regarding Clemson's claim against Ole Miss:
"The NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules. We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation."
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Why did Dabo Swinney publicly call out Ole Miss, Pete Golding?
College football coaches are vocal about tampering in the transfer portal and high-school recruiting, but they rarely call out schools or coaches like Swinney did.
Swinney said he called out Ole Miss to protect Clemson from future acts of tampering and for the betterment of the sport.
"It's about the message that is being sent if this blatant tampering is allowed to happen without any consequences," Swinney said. "This is about protecting our program. This is about college football."
What is tampering?
Tampering in college athletics is when teams contact players who are on other teams. That is against the rules.
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In many cases, teams will do that to try to get players into the transfer portal. However, accusations are rarely publicized.
Teams are not allowed to tamper with athletes, according to NCAA bylaw 13.1.1.4. Here's what the full rule says:
"An athletics staff member or other representative of the institution's athletics interests shall not communicate or make contact with the student-athlete of another NCAA Division I institution, or any individual associated with the student-athlete (e.g., family member, scholastic or nonscholastic coach, advisor), directly or indirectly, without first obtaining authorization through the notification of transfer process. Before making contact, directly or indirectly, with a student-athlete of an NCAA Division II or Division III institution, or an NAIA four-year collegiate institution, an athletics staff member or other representative of the institution's athletics interests shall comply with the rule of the applicable division or the NAIA rule for making contact with a student-athlete."
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at DCarter@usatodayco.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: What Shane Beamer said about Dabo Swinney, Ole Miss tampering claims
