Sam Pittman addresses in-conference tampering in college football

The NCAA Transfer Portal has been open just over a week and, as usual, it’s already dominating the headlines.

Marshall recently opted out of participating in the Independence Bowl vs. Army, directly citing the nearly 30 Thundering Herd players that have entered the portal since it opened Dec. 9.

But, for bigger programs like those in the SEC, what’s more concerning than roster implications is the rampant tampering allegedly going on behind the scenes, including much of it from inside the house.

“It’s a crazy world out there as far as tampering and all that,” Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman said last week. “I don’t know if many guys have gotten in trouble for that and I don’t see it happening.”

So far in the 2025 cycle, Arkansas has lost 26 players to the Transfer Portal and added six transfers to its class, including former Texas A&M tight end Jaden Platt earlier Tuesday. Among the Razorbacks’ biggest transfer losses include defensive back brothers TJ and Tevis Metcalf (Michigan), pass rusher Brad Spence (Texas), offensive linemen Josh Braun (Kentucky) and Patrick Kutas (Ole Miss). In fact, of the eight Arkansas players to commit to other schools out of the portal, five pledged to SEC rivals.

“It’s hard. The bottom line is, guys, is everyone of these kids that come in here – not everyone, … but most of them – they know where they’re going and how much they’re going to get paid,” Pittman added. “So somebody had to talk to them, you know. That’s very, very difficult.

“But I think with the lay of the land right now, it’s agents doing the conversations and there’s no certification, you don’t have to be a certified agent or anything like that. An agent can be anybody. I think some certification there might help us as well.”

Jimbo Fisher rips rampant ‘cheating,’ tampering in college football

Jimbo Fisher is taking some time away from college football after being fired at Texas A&M last season, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t opinionated regarding the issues plaguing today’s game.

During an interview with College Sports on SiriusXM, Fisher elaborated on his love for college football, but he pointed out some of the top reasons why the sport is in trouble, specifically singling-out tampering.

“We need revenue sharing. We need a salary cap, for all schools, and if you’re caught — and the other part of this, the tampering that other schools do with players, is utterly ridiculous,” Fisher said. “I mean, the big schools are going and getting players constantly from other schools, and it’s being done illegally.”

Fisher’s Texas A&M teams became the poster child for what you can do with NIL during his time in College Station. Of course, that irony didn’t stop the former Aggies leader from panning the way the transfer portal has changed the game, and how it’s made cheating more prevalent.

“I’ve had multiple discussions with players I’ve had, teams calling them and offering money. ‘I’ve got NIL, I’ve got this offer here, I’ve got this,’ and you’ve got to sit down with them, their parents and go through it all. Power 4, within our own league, with the things that go on,” Fisher added. “I thought, really, when NIL came in, we thought it would be good, because some of this — there were teams that were doing NIL before NIL was popular, okay? … I thought NIL would at least make it fair, take the cheating out of ball. It’s made it worse.”

Steve Samra contributed to this report.