If the NCAA investigators don’t think Ole Miss’s self-imposed bowl ban for the 2017 season goes far enough, they reserve the right to tack on an additional year of postseason sanctions.

That would allow players currently on the roster to transfer without penalty to a new school and play immediately, which could spell disaster for the Rebels.

According to Steven Godfrey of SB Nation, other SEC schools are doing their due diligence to make sure they’re ready to pounce in case of a worst-case scenario in Oxford:

Rival schools are not wasting time. When contacted by SB Nation Wednesday evening, coaches on two different SEC staffs confirmed their schools will evaluate the Rebels’ roster for potential talent, in case a two-year ban allowed transfers to play immediately.

Similar scenarios have happened to USC and Penn State in recent years, but neither of those schools play in the cutthroat SEC West.

If the Rebels have their roster pillaged by schools in the NCAA’s good graces, they could face several lean years as they try to rebuild a program that has reached new heights under now-embattled coach Hugh Freeze.