Why you’ll never know who hacked Laremy Tunsil

This is as close as Laremy Tunsil will likely ever come to naming the person who hacked him: three minutes and 27 seconds of the football player navigating a personal hell in real time. No one seems to be in control of the moment, especially Tunsil. He’s visibly nervous and repeats himself. He also contradicts his own account of events while answering questions on the matter for the first and last time.

Finally, a publicist hired by Tunsil’s superstar agent Jimmy Sexton clambers to shut it down. As overproduced as the NFL draft’s “moments” tend to read, this is a raw, real disaster unfolding in media res:

Even with so many people there for him, Tunsil is alone and confused. Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze is in Chicago. So is Tunsil’s mother. So is Sexton, the agent Tunsil and Freeze share. So are multiple employees of Sexton and Ole Miss and the Miami Dolphins, who just drafted Tunsil after he fell to the 13th spot.

There are so many people present who are vested in Tunsil, yet he’s left alone to answer questions he’s never fielded — for three years at Ole Miss he’d been regularly held back from group interviews like these. Days and weeks later he’ll tell some Ole Miss teammates he doesn’t even remember what he said, that he doesn’t remember sitting at that table at all. But he was there, and he gave up the ghost:

REPORTER: “Was there an exchange of money between you and your coach as your Instagram photos ...?

TUNSIL: “Nah, I wouldn’t say all that. I wouldn’t say that.”

REPORTER: “So ... not only did someone hack your accounts but they doctored those messages, you’re saying?

TUNSIL: “Exactly.”

REPORTER: “You’re saying those messages were not ...”

TUNSIL: “Hold on, you’re talking about the messages from the old ... no, no, those are true. Like I said, I made a mistake, of that happening ... ”

REPORTER: “So was there an exchange between you and your coach? Of Money?”

TUNSIL: “I would have to say yeah.”

His admission here sets in motion a new, unprecedented chapter of NCAA investigations into his college program. But the significance of this moment is not what Tunsil says. It’s that this is the exact moment Tunsil and his circle realize beyond doubt that someone is trying to destroy his future in real time.

Why, one year later, does the world not know who tried to sabotage Laremy Tunsil on draft night?

There is a standing theory as to how the hack occurred, its details confirmed by multiple independent sources connected to Tunsil’s inner circle and the Ole Miss football program.

All tell the same story: At some point between the start of the 2015 Ole Miss football season and the end of October, a former associate of Tunsil’s provided him a new Apple device. This individual offered to transfer Tunsil’s account information during setup of the new device. Tunsil agreed, providing login information for his iCloud account.

That person’s relation to Tunsil is often referred to as a “business manager” or “advisor,” someone who had been in contact with Tunsil and some of his teammates for around one year.

Tunsil took items such as the Apple device from this person over a period of time in exchange for a promise of a future financial agreement once Tunsil turned pro, specifics of which are unknown. Tunsil would sit out seven games during the Rebels’ 2015 campaign in connection to receiving free use of a rental and loaner cars as well as a free airline ticket. As the draft neared, Tunsil’s circle began to change — he signed with Sexton shortly after Christmas — and the would-be business manager was pushed out.

Simultaneously, Tunsil’s personal life exploded into the NCAA’s investigation. Tunsil and his stepfather, Lindsey Miller, both filed domestic violence charges against one another in 2015 after a physical altercation in which Tunsil claimed he was defending his mother, Desiree Polingo, from Miller. Both sides would drop the charges, but not before Miller would file a suit against Tunsil for “intentional infliction of emotional distress.”

Those close to Tunsil and Ole Miss who spoke to SB Nation believe the timing of the two hacked social media accounts was intentional and specific.

The bong video, shot two years prior at a campus frat house, surfaced right before first-round selections began. It was an attempt to sabotage Tunsil’s projection as a top-three pick. Two other tackles were drafted ahead of Tunsil, who dropped to No. 13. The 21-year-old lost an estimated $10 to $12 million in under an hour.

The Dolphins claimed they were made aware of the bong video’s existence prior to the draft.

“We had some information. But obviously once [the hack] happened, we called some people we know to check and just triple check and make sure. And obviously before you take anyone when a guy falls like that, we went back and we dug into the research again and just made sure,” Miami general manager Chris Grier told reporters that night.

The screencapped text messages were then released just as Tunsil’s televised green room nightmare ended, forcing him to answer questions about the NCAA with no warning.

Moments prior to his press conference Tunsil was informed by ESPN Radio live on the air that his Instagram was hacked. The @kingtunsil account at that point featured screenshots of text messages between Tunsil and University of Mississippi assistant athletic director John Miller in which Tunsil, then a student-athlete, asked Miller, a university employee, for money to pay his bills.

Tunsil told ESPN Radio he didn’t know anything about what had been published on his Instagram and that he didn’t know who could’ve accessed his Instagram or his Snapchat, where a video of him smoking marijuana through a gas mask bong was published before the draft began that evening. Potentially devastating evidence against his college had just been released on his own social media account, he was told.

The validity of the Miller texts allowed for a new opening in the NCAA’s investigation. Its enforcement team then had a fresh window to build a stronger case against the Rebel football program and Freeze.

It’s still unclear if the “business manager” actually blackmailed or extorted Tunsil, or simply released the video and photos out of spite. To date no one at the University of Mississippi, Tunsil’s camp, or the Dolphins have officially consulted with outside authorities regarding the hack.

Multiple sources in Mississippi law enforcement and the FBI confirmed to SB Nation that if the draft-night hack was part of an extortion or blackmail attempt against Tunsil, a determination could be made quickly.

“Given the probability that he most likely knew the person or people who had access to his accounts, an investigation could come together fast if [Tunsil] was cooperative,” one law enforcement source said.

But the FBI was never contacted by Tunsil or Ole Miss regarding the hack. Whether the hack was part of an actual extortion scheme or simply a form of harassment can’t be determined, because no one involved will comment further: Tunsil’s representation, the University of Mississippi, and the Miami Dolphins have all declined to comment on the current state of an inquiry into the draft-night hack.

There is a good reason: Because everyone just wants this to go away. And because of that, the person who did it will almost certainly never be caught.

Why would the Miami Dolphins want to pursue the hacker? Neither the Dolphins nor the NFL stand to gain anything by pursuing a crooked financial advisor preying on college athletes. None of Tunsil’s alleged or admitted transgressions occurred while he was a professional athlete. As a rookie Tunsil acquitted himself well at guard, occasionally transitioning to his eventual position at left tackle, where he allowed only one sack all season. Ergo, the Dolphins just want the troubled past life of their investment to fade as quickly as possible.

The NCAA and Ole Miss are the two organizations ostensibly tied to the well-being and safety of Laremy Tunsil, college athlete. The NCAA and its member institutions tout governance and policy designed to protect the well-being of student-athletes ... except that the two are currently engaged in an active process of allegations and appeals to alleged bylaw violations of that policy. Tunsil is a pawn stuck in the middle.

Had Tunsil changed his mind following the draft and decided to speak up, to say that he’d been blackmailed or extorted or had taken money in any way from a person who was now threatening to affect his future livelihood, he would’ve admitted to receiving illegal benefits and his eligibility — the sole piece of equity a college athlete has in their potential pro future — would’ve been voided. Tunsil didn’t need to protect his eligibility anymore and so he wasn’t under any obligation to answer to the NCAA.

The failing of college athletics is that once a player screws up, or even thinks they’ve screwed up, the entire apparatus of eligibility is designed to punish the potentially valuable student-athlete who was preyed upon and not the predator.

“Right now it’s like we’re teaching sex education to teenagers by only preaching abstinence,” an associate AD for a rival SEC program said. “That’s not going to work a majority of the time. We’re telling them don’t do this, and then when they do it a little bit or just once, all we can do is punish them, or punish ourselves [as a program]. We can’t work in conjunction with the NCAA to expel or try to bring these people who target college athletes to light because we don’t have the tools. We don’t have the tools because we aren’t motivated to create them.”

In February the NCAA delivered an amended notice of allegations against Ole Miss that include multiple Level 1 charges, among them lack of institutional control. In the wake of Tunsil’s hack, Ole Miss fired assistant AD Barney Farrar, whom Miller names as the person Tunsil should contact for money.

SB Nation can confirm that Tunsil has denied requests by the NCAA’s enforcement staff to speak on any matter. Through a spokesperson the NCAA denied comment because the case against Ole Miss is still ongoing, but provided a statement:

“Generally speaking, the NCAA enforcement staff is always mindful of the impact an investigation has on student-athletes and works with its members to protect student-athlete privacy throughout the process,” said vice president of enforcement Jon Duncan.

Ole Miss really, really doesn’t want the hacker caught. In fact, Ole Miss is best served if the hacker is never identified. The confirmation of the existence of a “business advisor” to a 21-year-old college football player can in no way benefit that athlete’s university. And the last thing Ole Miss wants is to exacerbate a four-year process that has already cost the Rebels self-imposed sanctions in recruiting and bowl eligibility, and an immeasurable amount of negative publicity in recruiting.

It’s likely then Tunsil himself has been urged to simply move on and not pursue legal action. As of this writing, Tunsil’s camp will not comment publicly on the matter, which makes sense: Doing so would endanger his former school and the head coach he shares an agent with.

“Laremy knows exactly who was behind this. We all do,” a source at Ole Miss told SB Nation. “But if he makes a public accusation, is there a retaliation? Are there more text messages released? That would only hurt us because of the NCAA, and he knows that.

“Laremy has been told to move on, that it doesn’t matter. Which really sucks for the kid because he made enough of a mistake to let one person hold it over him and almost ruin his career. So it does matter. But no one gains anything if this person is ever found and punished, not even Laremy.”