For far too long college coaches have accused other programs of tampering with their players, with very few exceptions of coaching specifically naming names.

Dabo took the podium today to announce the return of Chad Morris as offensive coordinator and a number of other new additions and promotions we’ve detailed on The Scoop, and while doing so also went on a rant with some serious allegations involving Ole Miss, Pete Golding and GM Austin Thomas.

Today, in an unprecedented move Dabo offered a detailed blow-by-blow account (with timestamps) of what played out with linebacker Luke Ferrelli.

Ferrelli had starred at Cal before entering the portal, and as Clemson began a retool of their defense, they had one spot allocated for a key linebacker that could come in and contribute right away and went to the portal to find that fit to help propel Clemson back in the national title conversation after a disappointing year.

Dabo and his staff recruited, and secured a commitment from Ferrelli back on January 6th.

Come January 22nd, Ferrelli raised eyebrows when he re-entered the portal. As you can imagine, a lot happened between the 6th and 22nd to make that happen.

Swinney went on to note that there is tampering, and then there’s blatant tampering.

“There’s tampering, and then there’s blatant tampering. 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.”

Then, there’s still another level of tampering.

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

According to Dabo, there was a communication between Ole Miss and Ferrelli late one night that Ferrelli’s agent then passed along to Clemson GM Jordan Sorrells.

Golding, the first-year head coach who stepped in as Lane Kiffin’s replacement at Ole Miss and led the Rebels to an appearance in the College Football Playoff Semifinals, now finds himself in the crosshairs of a national storyline involving tampering between the ACC and SEC.

Dabo says on January 15th, Sorrels came to him and shared the conversation he had with Ferrelli’s agent the night before saying that Ole Miss had been coming after Luke, despite him being on campus, enrolled in classes, and completely moved in.

Swinney directed Sorrels to reach out to Thomas, as Golding had only been in the head coaches chair for a month, and that he was prepared to “gonna give him some grace and let him know we know what’s going on and if he doesn’t cease communication we were going to turn him in. I really thought that was going to be the end of it. But it wasn’t.”

During that conversation, Thomas insisted that he had communicated to Ferrelli’s agent that he wanted no part of the whole deal, and told Clemson’s GM that his relationship with Jordan was worth more to him than signing Luke Ferrelli, but that “Pete Golding just does what he does.”

Sorrells met face-to-face with Luke shortly after that conversation with Thomas and communicated that Golding had texted him Wednesday morning, while in his 8am class, and the text read “I know you’re signed. What’s the buyout?” That was followed by a text from Golding that included a picture of a $1 million contract. Luke says Golding involved star Rebs quarterback Trinidad Chambliss in the process as well by having him call from his phone as Golding continued to push for Luke to re-enter the transfer portal.

Dabo goes on for over 8-minutes with a very detailed account of what happened before Ferrelli Re-entered the portal and signed with Ole Miss, as this is going to be a situation to monitor over the coming weeks as Golding will surely be asked about it in the near future and have to answer for the allegations.

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