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The Connor Stalions Netflix documentary was released on Tuesday, and there is certainly a lot to unpack. To recap, Connor Stalions is the Michigan football staffer that was the head of the sign-stealing scheme that led to an NCAA investigation. Stalions was accused of illegal in-person scouting, and he ended up resigning from his position with the Wolverines shortly after the investigation began. The story took over the college football landscape, and Netflix made a documentary about it as part of their Untold series.
Connor Stalions had volunteered with the Michigan football program well before he was actually hired before the 2022 season, but he was an official, paid member of the staff in 2022 and part of the 2023 season. The Wolverines had a dramatic turnaround after a disastrous 2020 season, and there are certainly some rival fans that think Stalions is the reason for Michigan's resurgence.
To be clear, stealing signs is legal in college football, and most programs do it. It is perfectly legal to use tape of a team to decipher signals, but it is illegal to in-person scout teams.
The story with Stalions is that he allegedly purchased tickets to games featuring future Michigan opponents, and he sent people to the games to film the sidelines. He allegedly used the footage to decipher signs. So, to recap: Using game tape that is available to decipher signs: legal. Using a friend's iPhone video from the bleachers: not allowed.
So, the Connor Stalions documentary is out, and there isn't much in there that is going to change anyone's stance on the topic. Still, here are three of the biggest takeaways from it:
Connor Stalions claims that he didn't break any rules
Connor Stalions said that he didn't break any rules while he was on the Michigan football staff. He claimed that he got his signals through legal tape, and friends would occasionally send him sideline footage that he didn't actually need because they thought it would be useful to him. Is any of that true? Who knows, but it was still interesting to see Stalions stick to his claim that he didn't break the rules.
Connor Stalions' response to Central Michigan game allegations
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Another big storyline regarding Connor Stalions is that he was potentially on the sideline disguised as a Central Michigan football staff member during one of their games against Michigan State. The Spartans and Chippewas were playing the day before Michigan had their 2023 season opener, and no one noticed anything at the time. Then, when the sign-stealing investigation began, some footage from the game surfaced and it showed someone on the Central Michigan sideline that looked suspiciously similar to Stalions.
This was obviously included in the documentary, and Stalions said he couldn't “recall” being at the game. He then said he doesn't think that the person at the Central Michigan game looks anything like him. Interesting…
The “underground community of analysts”
Lastly, Connor Stalions mentioned that when he started working with the Michigan football team, he noticed that the Wolverines were near the bottom of the “intelligence operations totem pole.” He was then made aware of an “underground community of analysts” that exchanged information to learn signals of opponents. Hearing that was pretty eye-opening, and it was even more eye-opening to hear Stalions say that 80-90% of teams have someone on their staff for that purpose.
There is still a lot that will unfold with this investigation as we still don't know what the punishment will be for Michigan. Rival fans think that the hammer is dropping and that the Wolverines will have to vacate every win from 2021-2023. A lot of people don't think that what Stalions' did had any impact in games. If you don't want signs stolen, change your signs.
At the end of the day, Michigan football went 8-0 and beat four top-10 teams en route to winning it all after this investigation broke. If anything, it's pretty clear that the Wolverines would've won the national championship with or without Stalions last year.
