Jackson Free Press

It looks like the University of Mississippi’s football program isn’t out of the woods with the NCAA. The http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/ole-miss-to-reduce-scholarships-suspend-assistants-in-wake-of-13-ncaa-violations/">university was charged with 28 violations—13 in football and the rest in track and field and women’s basketball.

While the school tried to deflect that most of the violations happened under the watch of former head coach Houston Nutt, the investigation revealed that nine of the 13 violations happened under current head coach Hugh Freeze.

It looked like the NCAA investigation would soon end, but the school got hit again, this time during April on the first night of the 2016 NFL Draft.

A video of former Rebels offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil smoking a bong attached to a gas mask leaked right before the draft started. The most damning part of the night, at least as far as the university is concerned, happened after http://www.espn.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/15518292/ole-miss-rebels-officials-confirm-laremy-tunsil-text-messages-checking-alterations">Tunsil was drafted, when texts of the player asking for money to pay rent and bills for his family were leaked.

In May, the school imposed a reduction of 11 scholarships from 2015 to 2018 and other small penalties. UM asked the NCAA to not have the school meet with the Committee on Infractions this summer to give them time to look into the Tunsil text messages from draft night.

ESPN later reported that the text messages were real, but the school was still looking into them to see if they had been altered before they were released. The UM staff member in question, Barney Farrar, denied that Tunsil had ever asked him for money.

Since the days after the draft, the story has died down, and the focus started to shift to the start of the upcoming season. That is, until today.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources-ncaas-ole-miss-investigation-expands-beyond-laremy-tunsil-124229650.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma">Yahoo! Sports columnist Pat Forde has reported that sources have told him that the NCAA is talking to players at other schools, discussing their Rebels recruitment.

The schools in question happen to be rival Southeastern Conference and West Division foes Auburn University, Mississippi State University and possibly one other SEC West school, Forde said. The players have been given immunity from possible NCAA sanctions for their truthful testimony.

It is easy to say that rival schools or the players who are bitter because UM didn’t offer them a scholarship will say anything to hurt the Rebels. Until the full details of this new investigation are known, the NCAA could possibly be working on new violations or just chasing their tail.

In reality, it doesn’t hurt for the NCAA to do its due diligence and investigate everything with the Rebels football program. If the organization finds nothing, the Rebels can tout that they have cleaned up their program. If the NCAA does find more violations, it can justify bringing the hammer down.

The timing is tough for Freeze and the Rebels, who will have to answer questions about a new investigation a little more than a week before the new season begins. It also means that the university might hear on ESPN during its nationally televised game against Florida State University, not just about the action on the field, but about the NCAA investigation off the field.

No matter how this plays out, it looks like the Rebels aren’t out of the woods with the NCAA by a longshot.