College football has been buzzing over tampering claims involving Luke Ferrelli and Duke suing former QB Darian Mensah after he entered the portal. However, they seem to have opened up a Pandora’s box. Dabo Swinney received support from Bret Bielema earlier, and now Syracuse head coach Fran Brown has also joined the conversation.

“Somebody tried to come get my D-tackle,” Brown said on the Orange Nation podcast. “I just hit the coach up, told him, ‘Hey, listen, I already know what’s going on. We’re not doing that. He’s standing there playing for me,’ and the kid’s parent got into an argument. But at the end of the day, the parent understood and knew that I cared and I loved his son. So he’s like, ‘yeah, you’re right. He’s going to stay there with you.’

So his son was happy that his dad said he could stay, tore the paper up, and left the office. I was happy I left the office the same way. And then I couldn’t wait till 12:01 came, so I could start worrying about that portal on the 16th. But what happened with Mensah is, I mean, it’s the game. It’s the nature of the business. It’s not illegal. So you just got to keep, you make sure you’re close to your players.”

The player Fran Brown was talking about is Marad Watson. Watson was a freshman All-American in 2024 and easily one of the Orange’s major losses to the transfer portal. He arrived in 2023 and started making an impact by leading all rookie defensive tackles nationally with 447 defensive snaps.

He played in all 13 games and started 11. Down the stretch, he was at his best with 15 of his 31 tackles coming in the final three games. Then came April. Watson entered the portal, and just four days later, he landed in Texas. That’s where things got spicy. Appearing on the Jim Rome Show, Brown hinted strongly at tampering. He made it clear he was happy for Watson, but not for the way things went down.

“I’m so happy I was able to help him get to that,” Brown said. “That’s a blessing. But I’m still mad at this coach who did what he did. He knows who I’m talking about.”

Brown never named names, but the message was obvious. Syracuse believed it had put together a strong NIL offer, only to realize it wasn’t even close.

“We were going to pay him a lot of money,” he said. “I thought, until this number came up.”

That’s the reality of today’s college football. Tampering has always existed, but NIL and the portal have blown it wide open. And programs like Texas barely feel the heat. The Longhorns are the only school valued north of $2 billion, and at the time, they reportedly had $35–40 million to spend. So they did. Even Brown doesn’t like it.

That’s why he runs a hardline policy internally. If a player even talks about entering the portal without coming to him first, Brown says he’ll put them in the portal himself. Players who “move sneaky” or bring negativity into the locker room? He calls them “snakes.”

The Darian Mensah saga

The Darian Mensah situation was a major wake-up call. It shows exactly what happens when coaches don’t stand their ground. Players, and sometimes rival programs, start taking things for granted. Mensah had already signed a two-year NIL deal with Duke, reportedly worth $8 million through December 2026.

The contract was clear: he couldn’t jump ship or play for another school during that period. Still, on January 16, 2026, the final day of the portal window, Mensah told Manny Diaz he planned to transfer, reportedly to Miami. He pulled this move even though he publicly stated just a month earlier that he was coming back.

Duke didn’t let it slide. The school filed a lawsuit on January 20 for breach of contract and secured a TRO within 24 hours. The TRO lets Mensah stay in the portal but blocks him from going elsewhere, playing for another team, or using his NIL rights until the court hearing.

Now, Mensah’s legal team is pushing back. They filed an emergency motion to fast-track the hearing, arguing that other schools’ enrollment deadlines are closing fast. And that’s the wild part. Even with $4 million per year on the table, players are still jumping ship. That’s today’s college football reality.