Big story just dropped from SBNation about the Ole Miss investigation, specifically the immunity given to Mississippi State's LB Leo Lewis, whose testimony is the main component being used against Ole Miss. https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/8/25/16199394/leo-lewis-ncaa-ole-miss-mississippi-state Some cliffs because it is a long article (much, much longer than my long cliffs): - NCAA is on Ole Miss' campus in 2012 investigation issues with women's basketball, track, and football (the venerable Houston Nutt had people take ACT tests for some players) - Freeze signs a big recruiting class in 2013 and antagonizes the NCAA into sticking around doing some more digging. - NCAA uncovers some stuff like Tunsil keeping a loaner car out a few weeks too long, a booster giving a recruit a ride to a bowl game, a $400 cash payment to Tunsil's stepfather. This is mostly ticky-tack stuff, however. - During a meeting with the NCAA about all this, the right reverend Freeze quotes bible verses at the NCAA investigators, incensing them. They want to bring him down so they continue the investigation and look for a smoking gun. - Somehow (still a mystery how this came about), a potential smoking gun is delivered to the NCAA in the form of Leo Lewis, a 5 star linebacker, that signed with Mississippi State. He had previously been committed to both Alabama and Ole Miss. Leo had raised the antenna of the NCAA when viewed surfaced of him after signing day with a new car and wads of cash. - The NCAA offers Lewis total immunity for anything he confesses in their interviews with them. - 3 different interviews take place over a few months. Ole Miss is only allowed to attend one of these interviews. NCAA by-laws state that they should have been allowed at all 3. - In these 3 interviews, Lewis states that he received free lodging during visits to multiple schools including Ole Miss. He states that on signing day Mississippi State paid him $11,000 and that the day before signing day Ole Miss paid him $10,000. He also claims that an Ole Miss apparel shop (Rebel Rags, the largest Ole Miss retail shop) gave him hundreds of dollars of free gear. - However, the transcripts of these interviews, which SBNation obtained, show that Lewis' testimony varied from interview to interview regarding specifics and amounts of money that allegedly changed hands. There are also inconsistencies in regards to Rebel Rags. He claims that he used a gift card to get the merch and that the people at the register reviewed security ink tags. Rebel Rags doesn't have a system for gift cards nor do they use security tags on any of their merchandise. Lewis is currently being sued by Rebel Rags based off of these allegations. They are suing him because if the NCAA finds this testimony credible, Rebel Rags would be disassociated from Ole Miss meaning that they couldn't sell licensed Ole Miss merch anymore. - A recorded phone conversation is obtained between Lewis' mother and an Ole Miss coach, wherein the mom states that LSU is offering them $650,000 and MS State is offering them $80,000 and asking how much they are willing to pay to get her son. The Ole Miss coach politely hangs up. - Following the interviews, Ole Miss' attorneys asked the NCAA if they were investigating Mississippi State based off of what Lewis admitted to (being paid $11,000 by Mississippi State on signing day). The NCAA responds that they briefly investigated the matter and found that Lewis' testimony against MS State was not credible. Ole Miss' attorneys heads explode over this, wondering why the NCAA deems Lewis' statements against Ole Miss credible but not credible against MS State when they are derived from the exact same interview. - An Ole Miss player and friend of Lewis, testifies to the NCAA that Lewis confided in him that once the video of Lewis flashing the cash around on signing day emerged, that Dan Mullen brought Lewis into his office and basically said that they needed to figure out a way to deflect an investigation of that money away from them and onto someone else. The inference being that Lewis was led to the NCAA by Mississippi State as a way to cover their tracks. - The NCAA Committee on Infractions, the body that decides the punishment for NCAA violations, has requested that Lewis attend a hearing with them on September 11th in Kentucky. Lewis' attorneys asked that this be done via skype. The COI rejected this. Thus, Lewis is in a tight spot because if he goes to the hearing, he'll certainly be asked about the money that MS State paid him, which could open them up to another investigation (Lewis has immunity, MS State does not). If he doesn't attend, the NCAA could revoke his immunity because of non-cooperation. It's a complete circus.
