Sports Illustrated story investigates the case against Ole Miss

An altercation between Laremy Tunsil and his former stepfather may have been a turning point in the NCAA investigation into Ole Miss.

Suspicion had surrounded the program since an exceedingly good 2013 recruiting class but the NCAA’s case got a lot stronger when, one week after after the fight in June 2015, Lindsay Miller met with NCAA investigators, according to an extensive article published Wednesday by Campusrush.com, Sports Illustrated’s college football website.

In it, Miller talks about alleged violations he said he’s seen during his son’s tenure at Ole Miss. His hundreds of hours of interviews with NCAA officials detail improper benefits he said Tunsil and his family received, including loaner cars, cash, lodging and help paying family bills. The story is a compilation of what has largely been reported but brings it together into one piece.

Ole Miss is under investigation for 28 allegations, including 13 in the football program.

The case is four years old but vaulted back into the media on draft day this year, when a video of Tunsil smoking marijuana out of a gas mask bong leaked out onto his Twitter account. Later, a screenshot was leaked from his Instagram account purportedly showing a text message exchange between him and an Ole Miss football official asking for money.

“The Ole Miss case is being viewed around college sports as a test for how the NCAA Committee on Infractions will handle major investigations in the future. College football's escalating popularity has brought higher coaching salaries, bigger television contracts and massive exposure opportunities that have increased the stakes of every game,” according to the Sports Illustrated story.

Read the rest of the piece here.

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 4:16 PM with the headline "Sports Illustrated story investigates the case against Ole Miss."