When it was originally reported that Ole Miss was being investigated for about 30 NCAA violations, there was a general consensus that football would not be hit too hard. It was thought that most of the violations came before current coach Hugh Freeze, and that the football program would be generally unscathed after the investigation.
Well, that's not exactly what the latest reports say.
According to ESPN, 13 of the 28 allegations levied against Ole Miss came in the football program. Even worse, it's believed that nine of those came during Freeze's tenure as head coach.
It appears the NCAA investigation escalated from the Laremy Tunsil fiasco that took place back in June of 2015. Tunsil was involved in a domestic incident with his stepfather, an incident that brought up several violations incurred by Tunsil. Tunsil — a consensus Top 5 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft at the time — would sit out seven games of the season because of the investigation.
The good news for Ole Miss is that none of the violations incurred during Freeze's tenure appear to be serious, and that several of them were self-reported. As ESPN notes, the very serious "failure to monitor" charge is not among the 28 violations committed across all programs, which should allow for the Rebels to avoid any major sanctions by the NCAA.
Ole Miss will have 90 days to respond to the NCAA's allegations, which is a critical point in the process. Assuming that Ole Miss accepts most of the allegations, it is likely that all of this will go away without too much punishment, and that most fans will forget that this ever even happened.
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