Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers will take on Lane Kiffin’s LSU Tigers on Saturday as both programs open their 2026 season.
While the focus will be on the highly anticipated game, a recent report has added extra intrigue after linking Kiffin to Swinney’s tampering claims against Ole Miss. However, Swinney has strongly denied Kiffin had any involvement.
Dabo Swinney Denies Lane Kiffin Had Any Part in Explosive Ole Miss Tampering Allegations
A forthcoming book about Kiffin, “Lane Being Lane: The Story of Lane Kiffin, College Football’s Agent of Chaos,” has shed new light on the tension between the LSU head coach and his former program, Ole Miss.
Journalist John Talty reported in the book that Kiffin came off like a man who “badly wanted revenge” against Ole Miss after leaving Oxford.
According to Talty, Kiffin allegedly encouraged Swinney to challenge Ole Miss over the tampering allegations involving Ferrelli publicly. The book goes on to claim that Kiffin provided Swinney with information that could help Clemson make its case against Ole Miss and head coach Pete Golding.
However, Swinney strongly pushed back against the claim.
“I literally just heard this 45 seconds ago, so I appreciate you asking about that,” Swinney said. “Here’s what I would say about that, and be very clear on that. Lane Kiffin had nothing to do with, I mean, zero to do with me turning in the tampering situation here at Clemson.
“Lane, after he had left and all that, he certainly reached out. I think they’ve got some back-and-forth, obviously, with those two schools. And honestly, I had a lot of coaches reach out with a lot of hearsay and stuff like that. I ain’t operating in no hearsay.”
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney responds to a report that LSU’s Lane Kiffin gave him intel, “egged him on” to turn in Ole Miss for tampering w/ LB Luke Ferrelli. Dabo: “Lane Kiffin had nothing to do with that. Zero. … People can make up whatever stories they want” pic.twitter.com/YsMJ5wEOEW
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) September 2, 2026
Ferrelli played for California last season before entering the transfer portal in January and committing to Clemson. However, Swinney accused Golding of continuing to communicate with Ferrelli after the linebacker had already enrolled at Clemson.
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Ferrelli eventually reentered the transfer portal again and chose Ole Miss. Swinney later announced that Clemson had submitted evidence to the NCAA over what he believed was an obvious case of tampering.
Swinney reiterated his stance, making it clear that he remains strongly opposed to tampering while again insisting that Kiffin had no role in Clemson’s complaint.
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“I don’t care what anybody says,” Swinney said. “I don’t care how anybody runs their program. They can run their program however they want to run their program. They can do whatever they want to do. I ain’t into none of that.
“I got one issue. If you tamper with my program, I’m going to turn you in, and it’s just that simple. Lane Kiffin had nothing to do with that. I was turning that in the moment he (Ferrelli) left. Again, nothing against the kid, just the system and the process of what happened. I laid that out very clearly, and what happened, and so now it goes to the NCAA.”
Swinney also revealed that Clemson is yet to receive a response from the NCAA regarding the allegations against Golding stemming from the Ferrelli situation.
