Pete Golding didn’t exactly dodge the topic in Tampa.
At SEC Media Days, the first-year Ole Miss head coach was asked again about the tampering situation tied to Clemson linebacker Luke Ferrelli, and he leaned hard into the same message he’s been pushing: the system is what it is, and everyone knows how it works.
Golding was referring to the former Clemson linebacker who had been committed to the Tigers for more than a week before ending up with the Rebels. When the subject came up, Golding pointed straight to Ole Miss’s compliance staff and shifted the burden away from himself.
“We got a compliance department. They get paid to do their job.
They do a really good job,” Golding said. “It's our responsibility to recruit really good players, coach them extremely hard, get them ready to win football games, so we're going continue to recruit really good players in the high school market and the portal market and continue to do it how we've done it.”
He didn’t stop there. Golding framed the transfer portal as part of a larger problem in college football, arguing that the current setup invites the kind of disputes now hanging over Ole Miss, Clemson and the NCAA.
“Would you quit your job before interviewing for another job or being offered another job?” Golding said.
“No. Nobody would.
But we have a portal we can go in with a do not contact, I'm going to quit my job where I'm getting paid, and I'm going to go in saying I need a new job, which nobody can call me to interview.”
“What have we created?” he continued.
“So we've created it on top of representation for these players, right, that it's their responsibility to make sure they get paid really well and they also have opportunities. So by design, it's put a lot of people in bad positions.
Let's not act like recruiting in college football for the last 100 years is the most moral thing.”
The issue hasn’t gone away, either. There’s still a stalemate involving Clemson, Ole Miss and the NCAA, even though a case was revealed to have been opened at the end of May.
Golding then circled back to the idea that the sport’s recruiting landscape has become a race where everyone is operating in the same gray area.
“That's why we have a great compliance department and all those things,” he said. “No, the model obviously has been broken.
I'm all for everybody being on the same playing field and doing the same things. I get it.”
He even used a call-and-response moment with reporters to drive the point home. Golding compared the situation to driving on the interstate and asked what happens when other cars are moving faster.
“We go by the rules of the program and the flow,” he said. “Like when you're on the interstate and people are flying by you, what are do you start doing?
The crowd responded with “speed up.”
That was Golding’s point, and he made it clear he isn’t backing off it.
In Other News...
Another Former Clemson Starter Is Back Inside The Program
Ryan Linthicum is back around Clemson in a different role, joining the football staff as an offensive player development intern with a focus on the offensive line. It is a familiar move for a former starter who spent five seasons with the Tigers, then left school with a resume that included 27 straight starts across his final two years and plenty of game-day experience in the middle of the line.
His return also fits a broader pattern inside the program, where several former Tigers are already on staff and helping shape the next wave of players. Linthicums path from recent starter to coach came after his playing career wound down, and his presence adds another layer of Clemson continuity to a staff that keeps leaning on people who know what the standard looks like inside the building. [Read more 🡒]
Former Clemson Linebacker Just Added Intrigue To The LSU Opener
T.J. Dotterys path has already made him one of the more interesting side stories around Clemsons season opener at LSU. The linebacker, once known as T.J. Dudley in Tigertown, moved from Clemson to Ole Miss and then followed Lane Kiffin to LSU, putting him in position to see his old program again in a game that already carries plenty of weight for both teams.
Dottery has spoken positively about Clemson even after his dismissal, and he also touched on the chain of transfers that helped shape his own journey, including Luke Ferrellis move from Cal to Ole Miss via Clemson. For Clemson, it adds another layer to a trip to Baton Rouge that was going to draw attention anyway, with a familiar face now on the other sideline and a little extra context attached to the opener. [Read more 🡒]