Central Michigan breaks silence on Netflix’s Connor Stalions documentary
The Connor Stalions Sign-Stealer Netflix documentary was released early on Tuesday morning, and there is a lot to take away from it. Stalions is the Michigan football staffer responsible for the in-person sign-stealing scheme that sparked an NCAA investigation into the Wolverines. Stalions resigned shortly after the investigation last year began, and Michigan went on to win a third straight Big Ten championship and they also won the national title.
One of the biggest parts of this scandal happened early in last year’s college football season. Michigan State was hosting Central Michigan on a day that Michigan football didn’t play, and no one noticed anything odd during the game. However, after the investigation broke, people realized that Central Michigan had someone on the sidelines that looked awfully similar to Connor Stalions when they played the Spartans.
Stalions was asked if he was on the sidelines during the NCAA investigation, and that was in the documentary. Stalions didn’t say that he was, but Barstool’s Dave Portnoy said that it was Stalions.
“An NCAA investigator asks Stalions whether he was the man standing in Central Michigan’s bench area, wearing team-issued gear and sunglasses, for the 2023 season opener at Michigan State, which took place the night before Michigan’s first game in Ann Arbor,” ESPN’s Adam Rittenburg said. Stalions replies that he didn’t recall attending a specific game, although Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy says in the documentary that Stalions admitted to him being on the Central Michigan sideline. Central Michigan has told ESPN it continues to cooperate with the ongoing NCAA investigation.”
Central Michigan released a statement on the matter on Tuesday morning.
“We are aware of inferences made in the new Netflix documentary regarding former University of Michigan football staff member Connor Stalions accessing the CMU sidelines during our opening game last September,” Central Michigan said in a statement. “For the past ten months, CMU has fully cooperated with the NCAA’s ongoing investigation, and we will continue to cooperate with the NCAA as it works to complete its investigation. NCAA Bylaws expressly prohibit CMU from publicly commenting on the details of the case at this time. We are eager to bring this matter to a fair and prompt conclusion and to share what we know. We appreciate the patience and support of our community.”
Connor Stalions says that he didn’t get signals through in-person scouting
© Adam Cairns / USA TODAY NETWORK
The biggest thing with this investigation was that Connor Stalions would buy tickets for games featuring future Michigan opponents. He was accused of having friends attend the games to video the signs that teams would use, which is illegal in-person scouting, even though Stalions wasn’t physically there. Stalions says that he didn’t get his signals through in-person scouting.
“I’ve had friends send me film,” Stalions said in the documentary. “It’s kind of like when your aunt gets you a Christmas gift that you already have. You’re not going to be rude and be like, ‘Oh, I already have this. I don’t need that.’ It’s, ‘Oh, thanks, appreciate it.’ They feel like they’re helping out when I already have the signals, I’ve already memorized the signals.”
Stalions noted that he got his signals the same, legal way that everyone else does. He just organized them in a way that set him apart.
“One, I’ve never advance scouted,” he said. “Two, if this was about signals, I obtain signals the way every other team does, through watching TV copies and talking to other intel guys from other teams. What set me apart was the way in which I organized that information and processed it on game day.”
Stalions began his Michigan career as a volunteer assistant, and he noted that the Wolverines were near the bottom of the “intelligence operations totem pole.” Stalions apparently learned about an underground community of analysts that exchanged information to learn signals. According to Stalions, a lot of programs are involved.
“You don’t know you’re at the bottom if you don’t have a guy who focuses on that,” Stalions says. “Based on my experience, 80 to 90 percent of teams have one of those intel operations staff members.”
Another interesting part of the documentary is when Stalions’ attorney brought up how the NCAA investigation started. He apparently believes that someone close to Ohio State illegally obtained Stalions’ personal information.
“If that’s true, it’s certainly a violation of civil law and it’s maybe a bigger crime,” Stalions’ attorney said to NCAA investigators. “And if it’s true that came from somebody associated with or tied to the Ohio State University, and we think it was, that’s where if I was going to try to do right I might be focusing.”
The NCAA issued an official Notice Of Allegations to Michigan football a couple days ago, and the Wolverines have 90 days to respond to it.
The post Central Michigan breaks silence on Netflix’s Connor Stalions documentary appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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