The college football world, specifically the Big Ten, was taken for a ride during the 2023 season amid revelations that Michigan gained impermissible access to opposing teams’ on-field signals — an effort spearheaded by former Wolverines defensive analyst Connor Stalions.
Earlier this week at Big 12 Media Days, TCU head coach Sonny Dykes stated that the Horned Frogs had to use “dummy signals” against the Wolverines in their 2022-2023 College Football Playoff semifinal round matchup.
Stalions vehemently denied what he referred to as “the same recycled story” from Dykes.
He went on to provide some details on social media in response, saying that Michigan lost because of turnovers and poor defensive play, not because TCU “fooled” the Wolverines with changed signals.
“TCU kept everything from the coordinator to QB the same, but had dummy signals & some new signals from the QB to Receivers,” Stalions wrote. “But that didn’t matter because I’m watching the coach and seeing what they changed in real time. Similar to Ohio State “changing their signals.” They changed their route concepts & some run concepts — not their formations & pass protection signals, which is all I cared about.”
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Stalions doubled down, saying that if TCU had changed its signals, it “would have confused the 18-year-olds on the field more than it would confuse me.”
“If you don’t want teams to steal your signals, then don’t signal,” Stallions wrote. “Any team that signals on offense is trying to force the defense to signal so they can steal it. There’s really no other advantage. … The continuous attempt to correlate signals to any wins & losses at Michigan is funny. There were 7 games in my time at Michigan where I knew almost every signal the whole game. … We lost 3 of those games because we didn’t tackle well, and Georgia was historically good. We won the four other games because we dominated the line of scrimmage & tackled well.
“Blocking, ball security, tackling, run fits & coverage tools. That’s football. This is not rocket science.”
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Stalions resigned from his position in November 2023 in the wake of the scandal and amid the NCAA’s investigation. Michigan later fired linebackers coach Chris Partridge for purportedly covering up details about the scandal. Then-head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended by the Big Ten for the team’s final three games of the regular season.
Harbaugh returned for the CFP, and Michigan went on to win the national championship for the first time in 26 years. That offseason, Harbaugh departed Michigan to become the new head coach of the NFL‘s Los Angeles Chargers.
Following its tumultuous yet successful 2023 season, Michigan finished 8-5 in 2024. As for Stalions, he became the defensive coordinator at Detroit Mumford High School and then the offensive coordinator at Belleville High School, where star quarterback Bryce Underwood played, in 2024. Underwood committed to Michigan in November 2024, flipping his commitment from LSU.
Stalions joined Michigan as a volunteer assistant in 2018 and was then promoted to defensive analyst in 2022.
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