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‘Tampering 301’ at Ole Miss: texts, bribes and hypocrisy
The first major tampering scandal of the NIL era is out in the open, and it's a doozy! Plus: the latest on Darian Mensah, Deion's elaborate fine structure and more.
Kyle Rowland
January 27, 2026
Hello,
Thanks for joining us today. I have some takes on the Clemson-Ole Miss tampering controversy, and we also have some updates on other transfer portal matters, a coach giving money back to his program and another one who’s going to start levying fines.
Unless you’re from Florida, you’re probably dealing with extreme cold, ice and snow. Stay safe, and keep reading!
— Kyle
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KICKOFF
What’s next in the Mensah saga?
Our first transfer portal story of the day takes us to Duke, where the Darian Mensah situation is becoming a case study in where college football, NIL contracts and contract law collide.
Duke and the former Blue Devils quarterback are currently working toward an out-of-court resolution that would allow Mensah to transfer, presumably to Miami. Any settlement would almost certainly include financial compensation to Duke, given the university’s position that Mensah breached a two-year, $8 million agreement he signed prior to the 2025 season.
Miami is not involved in negotiations, according to the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson. Miami’s spring semester admission window has already closed. Not that it will prevent Mensah from enrolling.
Mensah led the Blue Devils to an ACC championship this fall while finishing second nationally in passing yards and touchdowns. Duke is protecting what it believes is a binding agreement that reshaped its program’s trajectory.
Mensah’s standoff marks the second high-profile quarterback contract dispute of the offseason. Earlier this month, Washington QB Demond Williams was linked to LSU before deciding to stay at Washington. Washington’s contractual language was airtight, which contributed to the decision.
As contracts become larger and more sophisticated, universities are increasingly willing to enforce them, and courts are becoming unavoidable players in roster management. Mensah’s case will help define just how far schools are willing to go and how much freedom players have.
Whether this ends in a settlement or sets a legal precedent, it’s another reminder that the transfer portal no longer operates in a legal gray area.
Wyoming’s coach will help fund his 2026 roster
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is.
At a time when college football is redefining what buy-in looks like, Wyoming coach Jay Sawvel is giving $125,000 of his own salary back to the university to be used for revenue sharing, on top of returning $100,000 from his retention bonus to help keep key members of his coaching staff in place.
That’s not a publicity stunt. That’s a coach responding to the financial realities of modern college football.
Sawvel explained to Cody Tucker of 7220Sports that he believes Wyoming is returning a talented core and needed a little extra juice in the transfer portal. Rather than complain about limitations or wait for help that may never come, he decided to self-fund part of the solution.
“I’ll tell you what, Jay is all about the team,” Wyoming athletic director Tom Burman said. “He cares about his staff and his players. It was his idea. We didn’t come to him. He knew we were struggling with getting to the number we wanted to get to from a rev share perspective, and he was like, ‘I want to help. I want to be part of the solution.’”
Sawvel’s actions cut against the common narrative that coaches only protect their own contracts. Sawvel is doing the opposite: leveraging his contract to stabilize his program.
According to Tucker, Sawvel actually donated more last season. He’s currently entering year three of a $5.8 million deal. Wyoming was 3-9 in 2024 and 4-8 in 2025.
Wyoming’s NIL budget is projected to reach $2 million for the 2026 season, a massive jump from $750,000 in 2025. That progress, however, comes as the university faces 11 percent budget cuts.
Sawvel clearly understands that the margin for error at a place like Wyoming is razor-thin. You don’t outspend people. You out-commit them.
Colorado’s playing by Deion’s rules
Hey, if players are going to get paid and have free agency, then they should be treated like professionals.
Which is why I have no problem with Deion Sanders setting team rules that, if broken, would result in fine.s
Here is the fine structure for the 2026 season:
$1,000 for being late to therapy treatment or strength and conditioning workouts
$1,000-$2,500 for a violation of team rules
$1,500 for missing a strength and conditioning workout
$1,500 for missing a treatment
$2,000 for missing a meeting or film session
$2,000-$5,000 for public or social media misconduct
$2,500 for missing a practice
Sanders has also blacklisted profane language and disrespecting women.
More news and links:
Alex Scarborough of Bama247 profiled former NCAA director of governance and policy Susan Pearl, the architect of the transfer portal.
New England Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte wrote in the Players’ Tribune about a gambling addiction that began when he was at LSU.
Boston College AD Blake James laid out the school’s revenue-sharing distribution: 75 percent to football, 15 percent to men’s basketball and 5 percent to women’s basketball. Hockey is noticeably absent. I assume it would make up the majority of the leftover five percent.
Here’s a good discussion with South Dakota State football coach Dan Jackson on the NIL-scholarship dynamic in FCS.
And here’s a look at UNLV’s jersey patches.
USA Today talked to women’s basketball coaches about the transfer portal changes.
DOWN TO BUSINESS
‘Tampering 301’ at Ole Miss: texts, bribes and hypocrisy
College football finally has its first truly substantive tampering scandal of the NIL era. And it’s every bit as brazen as coaches have been warning about for years.
For a long time, tampering accusations lived in the shadows. Coaches complained privately, hinted publicly and seldom named names. Now, the gloves are off. Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has gone scorched earth, openly accusing Ole Miss coach Pete Golding of illegally contacting Clemson linebacker Luke Ferrelli.
And Dabo has receipts and timestamps.
On Friday, Swinney delivered a minutes-long, pointed rant that laid bare what he described as systematic and blatant rule-breaking. His message was simple: Accountability has to exist, or the sport has no governance at all.
“If you tamper with my players, I’m going to turn you in,” he said. “There has to be accountability and consequences for this type of behavior and total disregard for the rules.”
Swinney likened the situation to having an affair on your honeymoon, underscoring just how egregious he believes Ole Miss’s conduct was.
Normally, this is where the Dabo fatigue sets in. His public musings have increasingly sounded like the complaints of a coach struggling to adapt to a changing sport. But this time, he’s right. And more importantly, he’s right on the merits.
Tampering is real. It’s rampant. And it’s corrosive.
The Ferrelli case illustrates how far things have drifted. Ferrelli transferred from Cal and enrolled at Clemson earlier this month. He attended classes. He attended meetings and workouts. Then, on Jan. 22, he reentered the transfer portal and committed to Ole Miss.
According to Swinney, Golding texted Ferrelli while he was sitting in class and said, “I know you’re signed, but what is your buyout?”
What pushes the situation into farcical territory is the allegation that Golding sent Ferrelli a photo of a $1 million contract, a stunningly reckless and blatant act.
The irony is rich. During the College Football Playoff, Ole Miss was among the loudest voices complaining about tampering, particularly involving former Rebels staffers who had joined LSU but were still present in Oxford. Now the Rebels find themselves accused of doing precisely what they condemned.
Initially, Clemson attempted to handle the matter quietly. Swinney instructed Clemson’s general manager to contact Ole Miss and demand that communication with Ferrelli cease. Instead, according to Clemson, Ferrelli’s agent escalated the tension by attempting to leverage the situation, telling Clemson that if the school added a second year at $1 million to the linebacker’s contract, the incriminating text messages from Ole Miss would be turned over.
Clemson declined.
“There’s tampering, and then there’s blatant tampering," Swinney said. “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. Tampering 301 is when you got a kid who’s going in the portal, signed somewhere, moved there, going to classes and you're texting them while they’re in class. That’s like a whole other level of tampering.”
Clemson athletic director Graham Neff and Swinney made a calculated decision to go public and expose what they see as a broken system. Swinney called the January transfer portal window “stupid,” arguing that the calendar invites chaos and extortion.
“You can’t sign with the Browns and practice a week, and then the Dolphins call you and say, ‘We’re going to give you a little more money,’ and you say, ‘See ya, boys,’ and go play for the Dolphins,” Swinney said. “That’s not the real world.”
(But, hey, let’s be honest: Who would want to play for the Browns?)
The NFL system works because tampering penalties are severe and enforced. College football has neither.
Clemson is now exploring legal options. The NCAA has acknowledged it will investigate “any credible allegations of tampering,” though Neff noted the association was surprised Clemson went public. That is part of the problem.
Sunlight is uncomfortable but necessary.
This isn’t about Ferrelli. This is about precedent. It’s about the next player and the message sent if programs can openly poach enrolled athletes without consequence.
Tampering doesn’t thrive in professional sports because it can’t. The risk isn’t worth it. College football has created a system where the incentives to cheat far outweigh the fear of punishment.
Swinney delivered evidence, context and a compelling case. It’s a murder case with the weapon, DNA and a motive. If the NCAA cares about fairness, something it frequently touts, this is the moment to prove it.
Enforcement cannot be selective or symbolic. Ole Miss should be investigated fully, and if the allegations are substantiated, punished accordingly. And the Rebels would be wise to own it. Admit the mistake. Take the penalty. Move on. No lawsuits.
“We have a broken system,” Swinney said, “and if there are no consequences for tampering, then we have no rules, and we have no governance.”
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