Freeze’s only hope is that the investigation doesn’t conclude during football season.
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MS quarterback Chad Kelly speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days, Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Hoover, Ala.
Whatever the case, Freeze showed up to Hoover prepared.
“We have fully cooperated with the NCAA throughout the entire process, which has been a long process”, he said. Our compliance team is working extremely hard to seek a resolution to this case, and also into the events of the National Football League draft night and we look forward to the conclusion of this entire process. Four of those were Level I violations, the most serious within the NCAA structure.
OLE MISS INVESTIGATION: The Ole Miss football program has been under NCAA investigation for the better part of four years and the case looks like it could drag into 2017. Thirteen of those involved the football program, nine of which were alleged to have occurred under Freeze’s watch.
In response, the school has self-imposed a reduction of scholarships (11), starting in 2015 and extending into 2018.
Freeze came out early and discussed the NCAA investigation before taking questions from the crowd of reporters. I obviously believe that I am responsible for things that happen in our program and some that are outside, and you have to be able to prove that you’ve set a tone of compliance, which I’m confident that I have done that. But ultimately that’s not my say. I’d imagine by now Tunsil’s voicemail sounds something like “Hey NCAA GTFO I’m rich now”. “And it still doesn’t always work out and you don’t always have control over every aspect outside of the walls of your building”, Freeze said.
The Gamecocks were a 3-9 team last season, winning only one game in the SEC. He also received a small loan for the purchase of a used auto.
The NCAA Committee on Infractions will review the Ole Miss response and decide if additional penalties are warranted.
One reason Ole Miss has high expectations is the return of quarterback Chad Kelly. “We’re focused on Florida State, and that’s all that’s on our minds”.
Tight end Evan Engram concurs.
MS tight end Evan Engram speaks to the media at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media days, Thursday, July 14, 2016, in Hoover, Ala. We don’t worry about outsiders. “We look forward to that day, we really do, where we can say here’s our program, here’s what brought us to this allegation, and we will accept the ruling when it comes”.
“We are excited about our chemistry, our chemistry, we just don’t have a lot of turnover at our place”. Tide coach Nick Saban said left tackle Cam Robinson and reserve defensive back Hootie Jones are doing community service and police ride-alongs after a drug and weapons arrest. And for Freeze at least, it was a rare light moment – the kind of thing we routinely see at SEC media days.
“We obviously feel like we did dot a bunch of I’s and crossed a lot of T’s”, the coach said.
Asked if it’s a distraction, Kelly responded: “Not at all”. “We will learn from where we made mistakes, of course, but there’s a lot of things we did right also”.
Freeze himself isn’t anxious about handling the pressure and scrutiny that comes with the investigation. He was more like the little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar, trying to convince Mom that he’s really was a good little fellow and might deserve a time-out in the corner but not something extreme like a loss of cellphone privileges at the height of Pokemon Go fever.
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“But if you look at: ‘What about all of these other guys that have nothing to do with that?’ And that is what motivates me every day, to consider it joy in the journey that I get to do with these kids and, man, coming through adversity, you know, I really believe that all things work together for good”.
