Ole Miss coach Pete Golding counters Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney’s tampering accusations, asserting there are two sides to every recruiting story.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney called out Ole Miss head coach Pete Golding in January after the Rebels landed Cal transfer Luke Ferrelli just weeks after he agreed to join the Tigers in the transfer portal.
The linebacker's decision to switch to Ole Miss didn't sit well with Swinney, who read aloud text messages regarding the Rebels and Ferrelli. Swinney accused Ole Miss of tampering.
“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.”
The NCAA hasn't done its job in favor of Clemson regarding Ferrelli, something Golden was all to willing to point out when speaking to reporters on Tuesday.
Golding told reporters there was two sides to the story on Ferrelli's recruitment, saying it was up to the compliance office to make sure Ole Miss was in bounds. Golding claims he spoke to Ferrelli before the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2.
"So, the bottom line, the recruitment of Luke, he came on an official visit prior to the Fiesta Bowl, and I told him, ‘Hey, I want you to be our green-dot Mike, but right now we got a green-dot Mike. And that spot’s not going to be available until we have one available,'" Golding said, via On3.
“'So, I want you. He wants to be here. I said, ‘But right now there ain’t a spot available. So, if that spot becomes available, it’s yours.’ It’s a kid that wanted to be here, that we wanted to be here, that at the end of it, came open, and he’s here, and we’re happy to have him.”
Ferrelli ultimately chose to leave for Ole Miss, a program that made the College Football Playoff in 2025.
Clemson still wound up having a pretty good recruiting class for the upcoming season, landing nine transfers on defense. Still, the Tigers would have been better off if they had added help to the linebacking unit with a key player like Ferrelli.