Did Ross Bjork Lie to Save National Signing Day for Ole Miss?

The Associated Press reports that 13 of the 28 violations levied against Ole Miss by the NCAA are in relation to their football program.

Ole Miss’ infractions also reportedly involve the track and field and women’s basketball teams.

According to sources, nine of those violations took place under head coach Hugh Freeze.

Out of fairness to the individuals involved and the integrity of the NCAA process, we will not provide further details or comment until everyone has had an opportunity to review the allegations and respond.

New information has emerged from the NCAA investigation into Ole Miss’ athletic department that suggests Ross Bjork lied to the public about the allegations, perhaps in an effort to salvage a big National Signing Day for the Rebels. Sports reported that Ole Miss had been charged with “roughly” 30 violations.

Of the 13 violations involving football, four were violations of the “bump rule” where coaches can’t have contact with a recruit during a designated non-contact evaluation period.

Chuck Rounsaville, publisher of the Ole Miss Spirit, reported tonight the NCAA has concluded the investigation against Ole Miss and no second letter exists or is expected to come.

The Ole Miss football program could be facing serious sanctions as almost half of the 28 NCAA violations raised against the school are related to football. Saunders was a member of Houston Nutt’s staff at Ole Miss. Freeze became head coach in December 2011.

Other self-reported violations, which were released by Ole Miss, include “a representative of athletics interests” providing transportation for recruits “on six different occasions from 2011 to ’14” and an assistant making “improper contact with a recruit at a high school”. Louisiana-Lafayette did not receive a postseason ban in its case, but was put on probation for two years and lost 11 scholarships over three seasons.