College football’s transfer portal has officially crossed from chaotic into lawless, and the latest saga involving Luke Ferrelli, Clemson, and Ole Miss puts the sport’s tampering problem under a national spotlight. What began as a routine transfer commitment quickly spiraled into accusations, leaked messages, and a public rebuke from one of the sport’s most powerful head coaches. This case isn’t just about one linebacker — it’s a clear example of how broken the current system has become.
Luke Ferrelli
Of all the issues in college football, tampering is the most prominent. It only makes the headlines when a coach, like Dabo Swinney, gets on TV and singles out a certain school. But tampering happens every single day of the offseason. Every school has battled tampering at some point, and the NCAA is sitting back, idle.
So what’s happening between Clemson and Ole Miss? On January 6th, LB Luke Ferrelli announced his transfer commitment to the Clemson Tigers. Ferrelli signed his financial aid agreement with Clemson; however, Ferrelli never signed his revenue share agreement. Unfortunately, until these agreements are signed, nothing is stopping a player from leaving the program.
On January 21st, Ferrelli announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal. The following day, on January 22nd, Ferrelli announced his commitment to Ole Miss.
On January 23rd, Dabo Swinney held a press conference to call out fellow college football coaches and the NCAA, and Dabo brought receipts. He announced that he had evidence of direct tampering by Ole Miss HC Pete Golding and said he had forwarded it to the NCAA. Dabo claims that Pete Golding messaged Ferrelli, saying, “I know you’re signed, what’s the buyout?”
Dabo then continued, saying that Golding messaged Ferrelli a picture of a 1 million dollar contract. Golding then involved Trinidad Chambliss and Jaxson Dart, having each quarterback reach out to Ferrelli about joining Ole Miss. Ole Miss then contacted Ferrelli again, increasing its offer to 2 years, $2 million. A few short hours later, Ferrelli was seen asking for paperwork to enter the transfer portal without informing anyone of his decision. The school notified the coaches and agents.
Ferrelli is ranked as the #32 LB in the On3 transfer portal rankings. He produced 91 total tackles, 5 TFLs, 1 sack, and 1 INT as a freshman at California in 2025, earning him ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Other Cases
As previously stated, tampering occurs every day in college football. Dabo Swinney just took the opportunity to shine light on it. If every case of tampering were recorded, judges and NCAA officials would never sleep.
A few weeks ago, Alabama earned the commitment of NC State transfer RB Hollywood Smothers. Smothers visited Alabama, canceled his Florida State visit, and committed to the Crimson Tide. Smothers was enrolled in classes shortly after. Behind the scenes, Smothers’ agent was talking to Texas, negotiating a potential contract. Before signing his revenue-sharing agreement, Smothers announced he would be visiting Texas, where he committed the next day.
In the last few days, Duke QB Darian Mensah has made college football headlines. Last year, Mensah signed a 2-year deal with Duke for roughly $4 million per year. After Miami’s loss in the national title game, Miami began its pursuit of the Duke QB. The common belief is that Miami was willing to pay Mensah’s buyout and offer him an increased salary. Mensah and Duke University have been in court recently, and their settlement was announced today. Mensah can now pursue other schools. Mensah is expected to commit to Miami any day.
Is There a Fix?
Honestly, college football fans, players, and teams need to prepare themselves for a long road ahead. Currently, the transfer portal is the Wild West. Players are allowed an unlimited number of transfers. Players can back out of their deals at any time until their revenue-sharing agreement is signed. Even then, a team must simply pay the player’s buyout to free him from his deal.
There are some potential fixes, but some players, agents, and judges will fight these ideas in court to the end. Instead of allowing unlimited transfers, a player can be held to one transfer in his career while being allowed to play instantly. If a player wishes to transfer a second time, then he will need to sit out one year. Secondly, to limit the number of buyouts purchased by other teams, the buyouts need to be increased substantially. There needs to be a significant financial impact from these buyouts.
Even then, due to an unlimited NIL fund from 3rd parties, these buyouts will not affect programs such as Texas, Oregon, Texas Tech, and some others. When you’re backed by multiple billionaire boosters, buyouts of $300,000 and $1,000,000 look the same.
Tampering will likely never be stopped, but I commend Dabo Swinney for his attempt. This current system of tampering, purchasing, and transferring will take years to fix. I suggest becoming used to headlines like these.
