Pete Thamel met with and interviewed quite a few people involved with the situation. It's a long read but a good one.
Some key points:
Tunsil's stepfather, Lindsey Miller, recently sat at an oversized conference room table at his lawyer's office in Lewisburg, Tenn., and laid out for SI, in a matter-of fact tone, how Ole Miss landed his estranged stepson.
Miller, who was dating Tunsil's mother during the recruitment and married her in July 2014, says he provided the NCAA with text messages, e-mails and Facebook messages to back up his claims. He showed multiple Facebook and text messages to SI that appear to verify some of the claims in the NCAA Notice of Allegations. He also says he provided his bank and financial records to the NCAA, which helped investigators verify an $800 payment from a booster in August 2014. At one point, Miller says NCAA investigators took his three cell phones to capture all the data.
In one Facebook message, dated Feb. 8, 2013, Miller appears to write to Ole Miss defensive line coach Chris Kiffin: "Plz do all the u you said to help me and desiree and my 2 sons I have been ole miss biggest fan 2 times he committed to ga I was there foor u be there for us when its time ok."
Kiffin appears to have responded: "You know I will!"
Miller says he told the NCAA that Kiffin, the lead recruiter on Tunsil, introduced him to an Ole Miss booster who provided Miller with free hotel rooms and lodging in the Oxford area.
Miller showed SI a text from his phone that appears to illustrate the charge in the NCAA's Notice of Allegations: "We'll be there Saturday May 10 to pick up Laremy for the summer. Do you have anything at the Hampton or the house. Let me know if you can help either way."
Along with free hotel rooms, Miller says two boosters helped arrange stays at local residences during Tunsil's freshman year. Miller showed SI a text that included the location of a key "under the flower pot" at a residence. The orchestrated living arrangements amounted to a Level I violation.
The NCAA's Notice of Allegations is consistent with Miller's claims in numerous places, including 12 occasions of free lodging that totaled $2,253. Miller says he told the NCAA those nights were arranged by boosters he met through Kiffin, but the NCAA never found that link. Kiffin's name appears 13 times in the Notice of Allegations, but none of those prove he set Miller up with boosters.
From a current SEC HC: "[Does the NCAA] stick to their guns like they said a few years ago and hold the head coach accountable?" asked a veteran SEC head coach. "Or is the NCAA going to wipe their hands of this? If they do, it's going to turn college football into college basketball, which is a free for all. They need to make a damn statement, sooner or later."
The theory in SEC circles is simple. If Ole Miss doesn't get hit hard after significant academic fraud, heavy booster involvement and a nationally televised admission of a player taking money, the SEC West will turn into the Wild Wild West. The NCAA has a chance to make a statement as a deterrent for future behavior.
Ole Miss will be judged primarily by a new penalty structure that hasn't been tested in a case of this caliber and profile. One key tenant of the new structure is head coach responsibility, which theoretically could expose Freeze to a suspension despite him not being alleged with any specific wrongdoing.
Ole Miss opens its football season with games against Florida State, Wofford and Alabama. If the Rebels lose two of those three, it's reasonable to consider that they'd self-impose a postseason ban in the same manner than Syracuse and Louisville's basketball programs have done in recent years. That would serve as both a preemptive strike toward a more significant NCAA penalty and potentially help the program move forward.
http://www.campusrush.com/ole-miss-rebels-hugh-freeze-laremy-tunsil-ncaa-1891313640.html
Some key points:
Tunsil's stepfather, Lindsey Miller, recently sat at an oversized conference room table at his lawyer's office in Lewisburg, Tenn., and laid out for SI, in a matter-of fact tone, how Ole Miss landed his estranged stepson.
Miller, who was dating Tunsil's mother during the recruitment and married her in July 2014, says he provided the NCAA with text messages, e-mails and Facebook messages to back up his claims. He showed multiple Facebook and text messages to SI that appear to verify some of the claims in the NCAA Notice of Allegations. He also says he provided his bank and financial records to the NCAA, which helped investigators verify an $800 payment from a booster in August 2014. At one point, Miller says NCAA investigators took his three cell phones to capture all the data.
In one Facebook message, dated Feb. 8, 2013, Miller appears to write to Ole Miss defensive line coach Chris Kiffin: "Plz do all the u you said to help me and desiree and my 2 sons I have been ole miss biggest fan 2 times he committed to ga I was there foor u be there for us when its time ok."
Kiffin appears to have responded: "You know I will!"
Miller says he told the NCAA that Kiffin, the lead recruiter on Tunsil, introduced him to an Ole Miss booster who provided Miller with free hotel rooms and lodging in the Oxford area.
Miller showed SI a text from his phone that appears to illustrate the charge in the NCAA's Notice of Allegations: "We'll be there Saturday May 10 to pick up Laremy for the summer. Do you have anything at the Hampton or the house. Let me know if you can help either way."
Along with free hotel rooms, Miller says two boosters helped arrange stays at local residences during Tunsil's freshman year. Miller showed SI a text that included the location of a key "under the flower pot" at a residence. The orchestrated living arrangements amounted to a Level I violation.
The NCAA's Notice of Allegations is consistent with Miller's claims in numerous places, including 12 occasions of free lodging that totaled $2,253. Miller says he told the NCAA those nights were arranged by boosters he met through Kiffin, but the NCAA never found that link. Kiffin's name appears 13 times in the Notice of Allegations, but none of those prove he set Miller up with boosters.
From a current SEC HC: "[Does the NCAA] stick to their guns like they said a few years ago and hold the head coach accountable?" asked a veteran SEC head coach. "Or is the NCAA going to wipe their hands of this? If they do, it's going to turn college football into college basketball, which is a free for all. They need to make a damn statement, sooner or later."
The theory in SEC circles is simple. If Ole Miss doesn't get hit hard after significant academic fraud, heavy booster involvement and a nationally televised admission of a player taking money, the SEC West will turn into the Wild Wild West. The NCAA has a chance to make a statement as a deterrent for future behavior.
Ole Miss will be judged primarily by a new penalty structure that hasn't been tested in a case of this caliber and profile. One key tenant of the new structure is head coach responsibility, which theoretically could expose Freeze to a suspension despite him not being alleged with any specific wrongdoing.
Ole Miss opens its football season with games against Florida State, Wofford and Alabama. If the Rebels lose two of those three, it's reasonable to consider that they'd self-impose a postseason ban in the same manner than Syracuse and Louisville's basketball programs have done in recent years. That would serve as both a preemptive strike toward a more significant NCAA penalty and potentially help the program move forward.
http://www.campusrush.com/ole-miss-rebels-hugh-freeze-laremy-tunsil-ncaa-1891313640.html
