Let this be a reminder that you never and we mean NEVER want to get on Dabo Swinney's bad side. Such is the case right now when it comes to Ole Miss and Pete Golding straight up stealing a stud linebacker away from Swinney and the Tigers.
Clemson's post portal depth chart offers more questions than answers
As most of you know by now, standout Cal linebacker Luke Ferrelli signed with Clemson and even started classes at the university. That didn't stop Golding and the Rebels from recruiting him, which was wild. The 'backer has since joined Ole Miss and Swinney is not happy about it. During a Friday presser, he's ripping Ole Miss and Golding for how they handled things:
Dabo Swinney calls out Ole Miss coach Pete Golding directly, saying that Golding texted Luke Ferrelli during his 8 a.m. class at Clemson.
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) January 23, 2026
"I know you're signed, what's the buyout?"
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney says Ole Miss upped its offer to transfer LB Luke Ferrelli to 2 years, $2 million on the last night of the portal window. Ferrelli's agent confirmed to Clemson that Golding had continued to communicate with Ferrelli despite him being signed
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) January 23, 2026
Clemson HC Dabo Swinney did not hold back ripping Pete Golding and Ole Miss
"I've always just kind of stayed in my lane and handled my business, and I've stayed focused on Clemson, but I am not going to let someone just flat out tamper with my program," a passionate Swinney said during his press conference. "If you tamper with my players, I'm going to turn you in."
Tell us how you really feel, Dabo. He just straight up called out Ole Miss for tampering and we're not surprised here. The way this whole thing went down is pretty dang disappointing. The linebacker committed to Clemson, was in classes, but Ole Miss didn't stop pursuing him?
Swinney even said that Golding had former Ole Miss players reach out to Ferrelli to help out with the recruiting efforts. Are you kidding? Evidently, Golding wasn't going to stop at anything to land the LB he had high on his transfer board.
Still, how in the world is this fair to Clemson and Swinney? Losing a transfer battle is one thing, but for things to go down the way that they did here just feels pretty sketchy. No one can blame Swinney for what he had to say. If anything, the hope is Swinney's response to this will make other coaches realize that there are unwritten rules that need to be respected.