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Ole Miss football coach Hugh Freeze takes blames for Laremy Tunsil, team violations

By The Sports Xchange
Mississippi Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze with quarterback Chad Kelly (C) at his side celebrates a win against the Oklahoma State Cowboys after the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1, 2016. Photo by A.J. Sisco/UPI
Mississippi Rebels head coach Hugh Freeze with quarterback Chad Kelly (C) at his side celebrates a win against the Oklahoma State Cowboys after the Allstate Sugar Bowl at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 1, 2016. Photo by A.J. Sisco/UPI | License Photo

Ole Miss could have a number of fall guys after the football program self-imposed scholarship reductions for 13 infractions, including nine during the tenure of current coach Hugh Freeze.

But Freeze said Tuesday at the SEC meetings in Sandestin, Fla., that he will take responsibility for the dark cloud over the program - because it's part of his job description.

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"The first thing I would say is that I own it. That's part of it when you're the head coach. You take the good with the bad," Freeze told ESPN. "But there's a big difference between making mistakes in recruiting and going out there with the intent to cheat. I don't have any information that anybody on my staff has been involved in any illegal payments to players or offering any inducements to players, and if I did have that information, I would fire them."

Last week, Ole Miss self-imposed the loss of 11 football scholarships in response to a Notice of Violations from the NCAA, which cited 28 total rules violations across multiple sports. Four were the most serious "Level I" infractions.

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Freeze said he could not directly discuss matters related to offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil, the 13th overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft around whom off-field drama boiled over during the April 28 event at which Freeze was present in Chicago. Three of the Level I violations alleged by the NCAA involve Tunsil or his immediate family receiving impermissible benefits.

Allegations that football staffer John Miller exchanged text messages regarding a payment to Tunsil - the context in part was posted to Tunsil's Instagram account on draft night, the same day a video of the NFL prospect wearing a gas mask bong surfaced - were verified as legitimate by Ole Miss.

"That's something I can't talk about right now because both sides are still looking into it, but I feel confident with the report we do have from the NCAA that our staff is not involved in any purposeful breaking of the rules," Freeze said. "Have we made mistakes in recruiting? Yes, and we've taken steps to make sure we don't make those same mistakes again. But to say me or anybody on my staff is out there cheating to gain advantage just isn't true."

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