Dabo Swinney’s frustration might make things worse for Pete Golding. In the new era of college football, players often make moves for money or better playing time, and both affect the teams in a big way. Swinney faced a similar situation when they lost their LB to Ole Miss in tampering. Now that the matter goes to the NCAA, Golding is on the verge of a potential punishment.

“I think the NCAA has enough to be like, Pete, my man, you are going to have to be on the sidelines or off the sidelines for a game or two,” Outkick’s reporter, Trey Wallace, said on The SEC Podcast. “Do I think that they’ll do it? Let’s see how tough the NCAA is in this. But they have enough evidence, and the coach is starting to talk up more now. Cool. But like I said at the time when Dabo did it, you better not be throwing massive stones out of that glass house.”

This situation became bigger when Dabo Swinney accused Pete Golding of contacting a player who had already committed to Clemson. Clemson then reported Ole Miss to the NCAA. The player involved in the entire mess is linebacker Luke Ferrelli, who transferred from Cal and first decided to join Clemson. He signed scholarship papers, started classes, and even joined Clemson’s offseason workouts for a few days.

Pete Golding apparently left a massive paper trail. According to Dabo Swinney, he allegedly sent a text message to Ferrelli while he was in his 8 a.m. class, saying, “I know you’re signed. What’s the buyout?” What’s even worse is that Golding allegedly sent a photo of a million-dollar contract. With the NCAA announcing that it has plans to pursue “significant penalties” in tampering cases, Golding appears to be completely cornered.

This is what makes the timing of the issue brutal, since Pete Golding is trying to launch his first full season with the Rebels. He has a locker room to take care of that requires stability. If the NCAA hits him with a one- or two-game suspension, it will be a major disruption to his plans.

The NCAA has shown no sign of stopping even after the Big Ten’s push. ESPN reporter Pete Thamel said the Big Ten asked the NCAA to stop punishing schools for tampering for now. The conference sent a letter asking the NCAA to pause investigations and review the current rules. The letter asked the NCAA to “impose a moratorium on investigations and infractions proceedings” about tampering and to “comprehensively reevaluate” the rules.

The Big Ten thinks the rules are old and no longer fit college sports, especially now that schools are starting revenue-sharing with players. But despite the push, the NCAA keeps investigating Ole Miss and Pete Golding. Look, if Pete Golding and Ole Miss face the charges of tampering, then there are other schools, too. Just take Miami, which faced allegations for poaching Duke’s QB Darian Mensah.

Then there are two other players connected to the situation, Princewill Umanmielen and Devin Harper, who were also involved in transfers and eventually ended up at LSU. They were reported to have signed revenue-sharing deals with Ole Miss before making it to LSU, and later, buyout money reports came out as well.

Ole Miss has grounds to argue that Umanmielen’s and Harper’s situation also falls under tampering and demand action against it. If Pete Golding goes down, he might even take Lane Kiffin with him. Even Trey Wallace pointed out the same. If the NCAA makes an example out of Golding, Ole Miss will argue that the next stop will be Baton Rouge.

“It’s not really a defense of, ‘Hey, we didn’t do this,” Wallace said. “It’s, ‘Hey, you’re coming after us; you better be prepared to go after 10 other schools the same way you’re coming after us because we’ve got the evidence that proves the other schools did that’. That’s what I think gets in the back.”

But even when Clemson holds an upper hand, they are denying giving any transparency to anyone.

Clemson takes a major step in “tampering” case

Dabo Swinney’s tampering allegation took an interesting turn when Clemson University refused to give reporters documents about coach Dabo Swinney’s claim that Ole Miss illegally recruited linebacker Luke Ferrelli. The reporters asked for the records through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, but Clemson did not release them.

The university said it cannot share the information because of student privacy laws. FERPA rules and state laws protect private details about students, so the school said those records must stay confidential. Even reporter Matt Baker from The Athletic tried to get those records related to the accusation. But Clemson denied it.

“I sent a public records request to Clemson for, essentially, the receipts to [Swinney’s allegations], plus any communication between Clemson and Ole Miss, the NCAA, or CSC related to these allegations.”

So, now, how and what effect those pieces of evidence will have on Pete Golding and his team is yet to be seen.