Top Clemson transfer linebacker re-enters portal 2 weeks after joining Tigers
In a last-minute turn of events, one of Clemson football’s top transfer portal signees is leaving the team and is projected to flip to an SEC school.
Former Cal linebacker and reigning ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year Luke Ferrelli, who joined Clemson on Jan. 7, is re-entering the transfer portal, The State confirmed on Wednesday. Ferrelli’s expected landing spot is Ole Miss.
CBS Sports was the first to report the news of Ferrelli’s formal transfer earlier Wednesday. Clemson’s compliance department will formally submit his name into the portal by end of day Wednesday, a team source told The State.
News of Ferrelli’s expected departure broke late Friday night, hours before the deadline for players to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Earlier Friday, the website TigerIllustrated reported that Ole Miss and coach Pete Golding made a run at Ferrelli earlier in the week but he’d opted to stay put with the Tigers.
Now, Ole Miss is the “team to watch” for Ferrelli, per CBS Sports.
Schools have two business days (or 48 hours) to process transfer requests. Ferrelli reportedly submitted his intent to transfer Friday. Clemson’s compliance department had until Wednesday to formalize his request since Monday was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a state and national holiday.
It’s a huge loss for coach Dabo Swinney and the Tigers. Ferrelli (6-3, 230) had 91 total tackles and 5.0 tackles for loss as a redshirt freshman at Cal. He started all 13 games for Cal, had eight games of 10-plus tackles, led all freshmen nationally in total tackles and also had a sack and an interception.
He was expected to slide in immediately as a starter at linebacker for Clemson alongside junior Sammy Brown. Clemson lost its other primary starting linebacker, Wade Woodaz, to graduation after the 2025 season.
It’s unclear if Ferrelli formally signed a revenue-sharing contract with Clemson. (Those are not public record, per the school and a pending statewide law.)
Ferrelli’s departure a shocker for Tigers
Ferrelli’s departure from Clemson for came out of the blue. Last week, he was reportedly on campus, attending classes and participating in football team winter workouts. He was already listed in Clemson’s online university directory as a sociology major and had a school email address and a roster page.
The school even publicly promoted his signing on Jan. 7.
Ferrelli had removed references to Clemson in his bios on Instagram and X as of late Friday, identifying himself only as an “LB” without a school listed.
On Wednesday, he also deleted all of his Clemson-related posts.
Ole Miss went 13-2 and reached the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2025. Former coach Lane Kiffin left the Rebels to coach LSU after the regular season, and the school promoted Golding, the team’s defensive coordinator, to head coach. Kiffin won 10-plus games in four of his final five seasons at Ole Miss.
Ironically for Clemson, Ole Miss was in the market for a high-level transfer linebacker after linebacker TJ Dottery surprisingly entered the portal (he is projected to wind up at LSU with Kiffin). Dottery is a former Clemson signee who went by TJ Dudley with the Tigers and was dismissed for an undisclosed violation of team rules in summer 2023 after his freshman season.
With Ferrelli reportedly gone, Clemson and Swinney could pursue another transfer linebacker, though high-level, unsigned players remaining in the portal will be more scarce than when the portal initially opened early this month.
If Ferrelli commits to Ole Miss as expected, he’d be the third former Clemson defensive player to join an SEC school this month. Former Tigers starting safety Khalil Barnes committed to Georgia and defensive tackle Stephiylan Green committed to LSU after entering the portal this cycle.
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 11:32 AM.
