Earlier this year, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney made headlines when he came out and publicly accused Ole Miss and head coach Pete Golding of tampering with transfer linebacker Luke Ferrelli.

For the first time, Golding has responded to Swinney’s tampering accusations.

“There’s two sides to every story,” Golding said on Tuesday. “I’m not going to sit up here and use the podium as a grandstand and all of that. That’s why there is enforcement. That’s why we have our compliance office. They do all that.”

On Jan. 23, Swinney publicly accused Golding of “blatant” tampering with Ferrelli. Clemson turned over evidence to the NCAA, alleging that Golding contacted and negotiated with Ferrelli while he was already enrolled and attending classes at Clemson.

Ferrelli signed with the Tigers during the portal window, was attending class and taking part in team activities. Swinney says that is when Golding started texting the linebacker directly. With just hours remaining in the portal window, Ferrelli informed Clemson he was heading to Ole Miss.

Golding gave his own account of what transpired with the recruitment of Ferrelli.

“The bottom line with the recruitment of Luke, he came here on an official visit prior to the Fiesta Bowl,” Golding said.

“And I told him, ‘Hey, I want you to be our green-dot Mike [on defense], but right now, we got a green-dot Mike, and that spot’s not going to be available until we have one available.’ So, I want you, he wants to be here. But I said, ‘Right now, there ain’t a spot available. So if that spot becomes available, it’s yours.’”

That spot became available on Jan. 17, a little over a week after Ole Miss’s loss to Miami in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl, when Ole Miss linebacker TJ Dottery, the green dot LB on Golding’s defense, transferred to LSU.

“(Ferrelli) is a kid that wanted to be here,” Golding added. “We wanted him to be here. At the end of it, he came over and he’s here right now.”

At Cal last season, Ferrelli was the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year after finishing second on the team with 91 tackles, while adding five tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, one pass breakup and one QB hurry. He tied for 10th in the ACC in total tackles and tied for 11th in tackles per game (7.0).

After Swinney revealed Clemson had turned Ole Miss into the NCAA for tampering with Ferrelli, the NCAA responded very quickly to Clemson’s allegations, with NCAA Vice President of enforcement Jon Duncan saying in a statement on Jan. 23 that the 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.”

As of February 25, Swinney stated there was “no update” on the NCAA investigation, but added, “if nothing else, I think we sparked a lot of conversation” regarding tampering rules. Swinney also confirmed he had not spoken with Golding directly.