Last year, Lane Kiffin of Ole Miss had his players compete in a hot dog eating contest, a tug-of-war, and golf cart races over actual football on spring game day. Many thought this was just Kiffin letting his players have fun before a hectic season, but he had a bigger motive. By swapping a football practice game day with a chaotic and fun-filled afternoon, Kiffin ensured there would be no opportunity for rival scouts to over-analyze his players and decipher who they could lure away. As odd as Kiffin’s tactics were, it seems he was ahead of the curve. At the start of this month, Nebraska’s Matt Rhule took things one step further by saying that they would be calling off their spring game this year citing concerns over player tampering.

The program ended up losing many players to the transfer portal after last year’s scrimmage that drew a massive 60,452 fans to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln. “The word ‘tampering’ no longer exists. It’s just absolute free, open, common market. So I don’t necessarily want to open up to the outside world. I don’t want these guys all being able to watch our guys and say ‘Wow, he looks like a pretty good player. Let’s go get him,’” Rhule said.

Rhule was not alone though, many coaches expressed their reservations about the scrimmage being televised with tampering a big issue. In fact, according to a report by CBS Sports, FBS coaches discussed a potential proposal to eliminate spring practices. They are exploring the possibility of implementing OTAs in the late spring and early summer months in its place. Still, these concerns remain at large and now On3 has revealed how tampering is shaping the transfer portal and college football at large.

NCAA’s lack of enforcement of directives has allowed tampering to become a common scene in college football. Moreover, the notion right now is that if your school isn’t engaged in tampering they are holding themselves back. On3’s Pete Nakos got in touch with many personnel staffers, agents, and NIL collectives across the Power 4 and they exposed how things work in college football when it comes to player transfers. The coaches remain anonymous, but their words resound enough.

One Big Ten staffer pointed out, “I don’t know anybody that doesn’t (tamper). Group of Five teams are doing it on s****y Group of Five teams. … There’s a whole league right above us that does it the right way, and we’re refusing to go to them for help.”

For decades, the spring game has been a chance for fans to grow closer to the team they support and for programs to connect with communities. Now, this chance may be on the verge of being snatched away. Why? Tampering is at the crux of it all and NCAA is a mute spectator. Spring games might just become a liability.

“Every day we’re dealing with it. If they had things in place where you didn’t need to tamper, I don’t think people would. People want to follow the rules, but they want to win more. And right now, if you’re not tampering you’re putting your program and university at a disadvantage to win games,” the Big Ten staffer mentioned.

Spring games bring more attention and lead to rivals spotting the best talents and making an offer to them that might be too hard to resist.

 Texas learned this the hard way in the spring of 2023 when Malik Murphy’s strong showing in the Longhorns’ scrimmage led to tampering from SEC programs. While they managed to hold him with NIL dollars, he still transferred to Duke after the season.

As such, Lane Kiffin’s move last year may just become the norm. A day that blends entertainment with very little football action on display. There is still value for television networks to broadcast spring games and bring droves of fans to the stadiums, but the bigger picture appears bleak for the programs due to tampering concerns.

A Big 10 staffer also gave an instance when they saw tampering go down firsthand. “We beat a team two years ago in our stadium, and three days later, two recruiting staff members from that team were direct messaging one of our top players,” they remarked. The player reached out to the program about how to handle this.“So I just called up that recruiting guy and say, ‘What are you doing, dude?’ To which he quickly says, ‘Well, hey, that wasn’t me.’ I was like, ‘I have the screenshots if you’d like me to share them with you,’” the staffer added.

Ever since the advent of the transfer portal nearly seven years ago, coaches have warned about the possibility of recruiting players on other teams’ rosters. NCAA rules stipulate that players cannot be contacted by coaches until they’ve officially submitted their names into the portal, but many coaches at SEC spring meetings and across the country claimed that it’s happening frequently. While there might not be direct contact, agents a playing a bigger role.

“Nowadays, agents are calling you with a list of guys that are currently on rosters, and they’re saying, ‘Hey, here’s my list of 30 guys. Let me know if you’re interested in any of them.’ As much as tampering is a problem, just in college football in general, the agent side of things is the biggest issue in my opinion, and they’re just doing their jobs. But it makes it tough,” the Big Ten Staffer pointed out.

But is it right to put the blame entirely on the agents for what is going on in college football?

Programs are driven by their hunger more than ever before to get the top players and maintain success at the highest level. They are paying way over the top when it comes to NIL deals to sway commitments and land their preferred targets. Take, for example, the case of Bryce Underwood. The top quarterback recruit was committed to LSU before Michigan came calling and offered him an NIL deal beyond expectations. While the initial offer was revealed to be around $5 million, it’s actually closer to $10 million over the course of his college career.

As one agent pointed out to On3, “People blame it on agents, but it’s the teams, too. To be a top-level school, you have to do it. That’s the only way to get ahead of things with this current model. It’s vital for teams to be successful. And if you’re not tampering, you’re going to lose.”

The problem is you could picture any coaches in this scenario, and it wouldn’t be unfair. Such is the widespread extent of the impact of tampering. It even swept across to arguably the best player in the sport Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith.

Jeremiah Smith being subjected to tampering after breakout season forces Bill Belichick to weigh in

How does a teenager become subject to a $4.5 million offer to enter the transfer portal? For starters, you could unanimously be considered a generational talent. You could garner the reverence and captivation of the country en route to being the best player on a national champion. Heck, you could even become the most prolific freshman receiver of all time, statistically. But can you take your stature, your medal, and your stats to buy bread? Turns out you can buy the whole damn bakery. Even though Jeremiah Smith made a substantial amount with NIL at Ohio State, he became a victim of tampering.

This is according to reporting by the aforementioned Pete Nakos. Even a blueblood such as OSU needs to look over their shoulder.

When the Jeremiah Smith revelation broke out, it gained enough traction that Bill Belichick had to step in. The UNC head coach said, “There’s a lot of money, promises, and opportunity being discussed. Everybody’s in on it.” Belichick drew comparisons to the NFL, where this has occurred for years. Alas, introducing a “salary” type system to CFB was bound to have its ugly byproducts. The legislature just isn’t ready to contend with this right now. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, the impending House Settlement can act as an antidote to this epidemic.

Until some sort of legislative changes are made, the sad reality is that big programs will continue to flex their muscles where possible. Jeremiah Smith stayed ten toes down. But not all players can leave enticing offers on the table. Until there is stricter penalization for tampering, it’ll continue to hamper the sport. First, it’s spring games; next could be something even more seismic.