A Michigan staffer with a military background is now being pointed out as the alleged point person behind Michigan’s sign-stealing controversy.
Connor Stalions is a retired captain in the United States Marine Corps and a football analyst for the second-ranked Wolverines, he is now being looked into as the NCAA investigates whether or not Michigan violated rules regarding sign stealing, according to ESPN.
College football insider Ross Dellenger noted that Michigan football analyst Connor Stalions is being investigated by the NCAA and even posted several pictures showing him on the sidelines.
He has since closed down his social media accounts on X and Instagram.
“Last night, ESPN reported that the Michigan analyst, Connor Stalions, is at the center of the NCAA’s investigation. Stalions has since scrubbed his social media. Gone are his Twitter & Instagram pages that were active just yesterday,” Dellenger wrote.
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A Big Ten coach alleged to Yahoo Sports that Stalions is the main person involved in the acts.
“He spearheads the operation,” the coach told Yahoo. “I once told (Stalions), ‘We know what kind of s–t you are doing and it’s f–ked up.’”
Stalions was hired by Michigan in May 2022 as an off-field analyst, according to his now-deleted LinkedIn. Among the skills Stalions wrote about on LinkedIn were “identifying the opponent’s most likely course of action and most dangerous course of action” and “identifying and exploiting critical vulnerabilities and centers of gravity in the opponent scouting process,” ESPN’s article states.
ESPN added that the NCAA has already asked for access to Stalion’s computer as part of the investigation.
Michigan is under investigation for allegedly violating rules that outlaw teams to scout future opponents in-person during the season. The Big Ten confirmed the investigation in a statement and said Michigan’s future opponents were notified of possible illegal sign-stealing.
If the NCAA finds the allegations to be true, Michigan would have violated NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1, which states: “Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited.”
