CLEMSON — Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban used what happened to Clemson in the Luke Ferrelli tampering scandal to make a point during his testimony in support of the Protect College Sports Act in the U.S. Senate Wednesday morning.

The Protect the College Sports Act, which was presented by U.S. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), is a bipartisan legislation to restore stability to college sports. In a sworn testimony, submitted to the U.S. Senate, Saban strongly supports the Cruz-Cantwell bill and urges Congress to act.

Part of Saban’s testimony centered around players being tampered and encouraged by schools, while being enrolled and attending classes at another school, to enter the transfer portal. Often these student athletes are enticed with large offerings of money.

Saban used what happened to Clemson this past January, when allegedly Ferrelli was lured away by Ole Miss after the former California linebacker removed his name from the transfer portal, enrolled and was attending classes at Clemson.

“Clemson had a player who was on campus for a whole week, and they came and got him off campus and took him someplace else,” Saban said during his testimony in front of the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C. “These things happening in college football are not what any of us have signed up for relative to the educational institution that we all try to represent.”

According to a report from ESPN last month, the NCAA opened an investigation of the Ole Miss football program the same day Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney accused Rebels’ head coach Pete Golding of tampering with Ferrelli.

An NCAA associate director of enforcement emailed Ole Miss senior associate athletic director for compliance Taylor Hall on Jan. 23, according to documents obtained by ESPN.

The Protect College Sports Act would restore order in college athletics by creating enforceable national rules, preserving fair competition, protecting student athletes, and ensuring fans do not lose the teams, rivalries, and traditions they love. 

Additionally, the bill would end the chaos by bringing stability to transfers, eligibility, recruiting, tampering, and real Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) rights for athletes; protect student athletes without turning college sports into professional sports; preserve fans’ favorite games and traditions; make TV money work for college sports; and restore competitive balance to ensure all schools, not just the blue bloods, can compete.

Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua also testified before the U.S. Senate on Wednesday.