HOOVER, Ala. -- Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said Thursday he believes he set the proper atmosphere in his program for NCAA compliance but acknowledged "we'll see at the end of the day" how the NCAA views the violations.
Ole Miss is the first major football program that largely falls under a new NCAA penalty structure, adopted in 2013, that holds head coaches more responsible for violations. NCAA rules now presume the coach to be responsible for the actions of all institutional staff members who report to them, and coaches are more vulnerable to specific NCAA penalties, such as a suspension.
"If mistakes were made, we're held accountable to a certain standard unless you can prove you set the proper atmosphere for compliance, which I believe we have," Freeze said.
"Again, I don't get to judge that. We'll see at the end of the day. I don't think there's any head coach at our level that can control everything that happens in this day in time. You can set the tone, but it's almost impossible that you could control everything."
So far, the NCAA has made 28 allegations against Ole Miss, including nine under Freeze for impermissible benefits (four of which are Level I violations, the highest by the NCAA).
Since late April, the NCAA has also investigated alleged text messages by then-Rebels offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil asking Johnny Miller, the Ole Miss assistant athletic director for football operations, for money. Freeze said he does not know the timeline of when the NCAA will complete its further investigation.
Tunsil is now with the Miami Dolphins after falling a few spots in the 2016 NFL Draft. In his post-draft press conference, Tunsil confirmed the texts -- which made their way onto his Instagram account after someone hacked into it -- were real. Freeze said he thinks Tunsil is willing to cooperate with the NCAA.
"I have not spoken to him at all since he was whisked away from the green room on draft night, and obviously that's out of respect for the process," Freeze said. "I think it's very rare for a kid that has left a program to cooperate. I have heard that he is willing to from just talking to our counsel and stuff. Where that stands at this point, I have no idea."
Freeze acknowledged that the unknown of Ole Miss' future has impacted recruiting. The Rebels so far have just 10 commitments for the 2017 class and are ranked 28th in the country and ninth in the SEC, per the 247Sports Composite. Ole Miss is tied with Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Florida for the second-fewest commitments in the SEC.
"If you look at all the top guys in the nation, not all, but a good percentage we're in it," Freeze said. "I think what they are waiting is some of them are waiting to see [about the NCAA case], which is very reasonable to me. I've been very candid with all of the recruits and the commits we have, and I don't know what the end game exactly is going to be. ... Of course, I think we'd have a few more commitments right now [if not for the NCAA investigation]. It hasn't been a thing where I think it's cost us for somebody that knows us."
The attention surrounding the NCAA case could put a cloud over the Rebels' 2016 season.
"How I handle it is just turn off the TV and don't watch it because it seems like that's what they want to talk about and we're here to play football," Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly said. "We're not here to listen to off-the-field stuff."
Freeze said the season could be affected if he doesn't lead the current players properly. "Just think about this: The percentage of our team involved in those allegations, go look at it, I think you'll find it's a very, very small percentage of our staff and our players," he said.
Ole Miss' response to the NCAA allegations under Freeze has largely asserted that coaches made careless mistakes without intending to cheat. Freeze was asked Thursday how, given the scrutiny Ole Miss has faced in recruiting, the program did not dot every I and cross every T to avoid the violations in the first place.
"We obviously feel like we did dot a bunch of Is and cross a bunch of Ts," Freeze said. "Could we be better? Obviously, we could. Until we get to share some of the back story of some of the allegations that maybe brought us to this point, it's really hard for me to sit here and answer that. It's a good question."
