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Hugh Freeze was 'shocked' by Laremy Tunsil's money admission

Graham Watson

Ole Miss coach Hugh Freeze said Thursday he was caught off-guard by the comments made by former offensive lineman Laremy Tunsil, who said during the opening night of the NFL draft that an Ole Miss coach had given him money.

“I know nothing,” Freeze said. “I’m not involved in the fact-finding process. I was shocked like everyone else (last Thursday night) living it out in real time but confident that our administration is going to find the facts and then give us a new report on it.”

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Tunsil had a memorable (or forgettable) draft night after a hacker posted text messages between Tunsil and John Miller, Ole Miss assistant athletic director for football operations, talking about the exchange of money to help pay bills on Tunsil's Instagram.

Tunsil was asked about it shortly after he was drafted and said: “I made a mistake. That happened.”

When asked for clarity on whether he was talking about taking money from a coach Tunsil said, “I’d have to say yeah.”

Freeze was in New York for the draft at the time of the admission.

Ole Miss said it would conduct an internal investigation into Tunsil’s claims, and Freeze confirmed the school was in the process of doing that. However, Freeze said he was on the outside looking in.

“I’ll be very quick to come out and defend us when it’s something that we know the facts on. I don’t at this present time,” Freeze said. “I know our administration is working, and I’m told they made a lot of progress, that they’re collecting everything so they know exactly what the facts are before we run out and make any type of response.”

Ole Miss was already issued a notice of allegations from the NCAA regarding in part Tunsil, impermissible benefits and allegations of contact with agents. Tunsil missed seven games while the matter was investigated.

However, if this new information changes anything in that initial investigation, the NCAA could send an amended notice of allegations.

According to NCAA guidelines, when a school is currently involved with a Notice of Allegations and new information surfaces, the school and the NCAA work together to find out the details of the new allegations. If it’s determined the school committed a violation, it becomes an NCAA enforcement investigation and ultimately goes through the infractions process.

Steve Farese, Tunsil’s attorney in a lawsuit filed by Tunsil’s stepfather, told SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio on Sunday that he thought Tunsil had already made a similar admission to the NCAA. Freeze could not confirm that.

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Freeze stressed that he’s trying to be patient with the process before speaking up about it and he’s urging everyone else to do the same.

“I’m trying to be patient, like I said in my opening statement,” Freeze said. “That’s difficult for me sometimes because you want to respond. But there’s great wisdom in being patient and making sure you get the facts, and we’re still in that process. Our administration will continue to work with all the parties to reach a conclusion as soon as possible, which we’re hopeful that’s coming quickly.”

For more Ole Miss news, visit RebelGrove.com.

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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter!