{"id":156750,"date":"2026-01-30T17:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156750\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:12:12","slug":"report-ncaa-contacts-fresno-state-regarding-alleged-tampering-by-ole-miss-with-bulldogs-wr-josiah-freeman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156750\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: NCAA contacts Fresno State regarding alleged tampering by Ole Miss with Bulldogs WR Josiah Freeman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NCAA\u2019s ongoing probe into alleged \u201cblatant\u201d tampering by Ole Miss<\/a> has reportedly expanded beyond last week\u2019s accusations from Clemson<\/a> head coach Dabo Swinney<\/a>. According to veteran columnist John Canzano,<\/a> NCAA investigators contacted Fresno State<\/a> earlier this week regarding allegations that a member of the Rebels football staff had \u201cimproper contact\u201d with Bulldogs leading receiver Josiah Freeman<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While both Fresno State head coach Matt Entz<\/a> and athletic director Garrett Klassy declined comment, Canzano added a source told him Freeman has already provided NCAA investigators with screenshots of communications from Ole Miss.<\/p>\n

\u201cFresno State has receipts,\u201d the report stated. Freeman, a rising sixth-year senior, led the Bulldogs with 52 receptions for 642 yards and six touchdowns last season.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, Swinney raised eyebrows around the sport when he publicly accused Ole Miss and first-year head coach<\/a> Pete Golding<\/a> of \u201cblatant tampering\u201d with former Clemson linebacker signee Luke Ferrelli<\/a>, who left the Tigers after a week in school to re-enter the portal and sign with the Rebels on Jan. 22<\/a>. Swinney and Tigers AD\u00a0Graham Neff\u00a0reported Ole Miss to the NCAA<\/a>, providing a\u00a0detailed timeline<\/a>\u00a0and receipts of the Rebels\u2019 conversations with Ferrelli, which included text message while the former Cal linebacker was attending classes at Clemson.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s tampering. And then, there\u2019s blatant tampering,\u201d\u00a0Swinney said during a nearly two-hour press conference Friday<\/a>. \u201cTampering 101 is when you\u2019re talking to kids who aren\u2019t in the portal. Tampering 201 is when you\u2019ve already negotiated the deal with the kids not in the portal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTampering 301 is when you\u2019ve got a kid who\u2019s going in the portal to sign somewhere, move there, going to classes and you\u2019re texting them while they\u2019re in class. That\u2019s like a whole \u2018nother level of tampering.\u201d<\/p>\n

NCAA VP of enforcement Jon Duncan confirmed there was an \u201congoing investigation\u201d into allegations involving Ole Miss in a statement to On3\u2019s Pete Nakos later Friday<\/a>: \u201cThe NCAA will investigate any credible allegations of tampering and expect full cooperation from all involved as is required by NCAA rules. We will not comment further on any ongoing investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urban Meyer claims Ole Miss tampering probe \u2018should be a one-week investigation\u2019<\/p>\n

Reaction to Swinney\u2019s accusations has been strong in the days following, with most around the sport applauding the Clemson coach\u2019s direct call-out. At the same time, there\u2019s also an overwhelming sense of resignation that an already neutered NCAA won\u2019t have what it takes to levy any significant consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is all true, and it sounds like Dabo has the goods right there, \u2026 this should be a one-week investigation,\u201d former\u00a0Florida<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Ohio State<\/a>\u00a0head coach\u00a0Urban Meyer<\/a>\u00a0said in Wednesday\u2019s episode of\u00a0The Triple Option\u00a0podcast<\/a>. \u201cYou go on the campus (at)\u00a0Ole Miss, you meet with the athletic director and the coach and say \u2026 \u2018We have facts here, you can\u2019t lie to the NCAA, and if you (do) you can\u2019t coach.\u2019 The investigation is then over. But then they\u2019ll hire\u00a0Tom Mars, that (famed sports) attorney, they\u2019ll fight it and I guess they\u2019ll win. It really bothers me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf nothing happens, there\u2019s no governance, there\u2019s no rules, and it\u2019ll be the most chaotic \u2026 which it already is. So I\u2019m disappointed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NCAA\u2019s ongoing probe into alleged \u201cblatant\u201d tampering by Ole Miss has reportedly expanded beyond last week\u2019s accusations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113,76688,76129],"class_list":["post-156750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-josiah-freeman-21-soledad","tag-pete-golding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}