I don't know what the NCAA deems tampering but anytime someone within the program (even if unnammed) and a player on another team's name is mentioned in the same sentence, it's a bad look. NCAA wouldn't be in the wrong to start asking questions.
Exactly. I couldn't find the NCAA definition of tampering but
The NFL defines tampering as “Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club’s player to that player’s agent or representative, or to a member of the news media.’’ and an official memo from the NCAA VP of Enforcement dated 2017 stated in relevant part the below:
"True tampering violations occur when a coach attempts to "poach" a student-athlete from another four-year institution. Although this may occur with increasing frequency, the enforcement staff does not receive information of this nature regularly."
"Moving forward, the enforcement staff will continue to treat tampering scenarios as serious violations. For example, if we receive information that an institution maintains a "whiteboard" (traditional or virtual) of potential graduate or undergraduate transfers, and reaches out to those individuals, we will investigate aggressively"
"Similarly, we will be very interested in facts suggesting that a program is impermissibly engaging with a third party to discuss the possible transfer of a student-athlete"
"Not all instances of perceived tampering are true tampering. In fact, more frequently, the enforcement staff receives information about less significant impermissible contact violations... In most cases, the student-athlete has a pre-existing relationship with the coach and reaches out unprompted. Incidentally, this can create an awkward situation for a coach who is mindful of NCAA rules and who makes a good-faith effort to terminate the conversation"