Michigan staffer tied to sign-stealing scandal bought ticket to Clemson game, reports say
Connor Stalions, the Michigan football analyst suspended amid an NCAA investigation into alleged signal stealing within the program, reportedly had Clemson in his sights.
Multiple outlets, including TigerIllustrated, reported Tuesday that Stalions bought a ticket for a 2022 Clemson football home game as the Tigers emerged as a College Football Playoff contender — and potential Michigan opponent — midway through last season. It’s the newest revelation in a growing scandal.
Stalions purchased one ticket for Clemson’s Oct. 22, 2022 home game against Syracuse, according to the TigerIllustrated report. The ticket for that matchup of AP Top 15 teams never got scanned, according to the website, meaning Stalions (or someone working on his behalf) ultimately didn’t “redeem” the ticket at a gate entrance and enter/attend the game at Memorial Stadium.
After an 8-0 start and No. 4 spot in the first 2022 College Football Playoff rankings, the Tigers ended up falling out of the CFP race with regular-season losses to unranked Notre Dame and South Carolina, nullifying any chance of a game against Michigan. The Tigers ended up going 11-3 and appearing in the Orange Bowl.
The Clemson athletic department had no comment on reports linking Stalions to a Clemson football game, a spokesperson told The State on Wednesday.
The Big Ten Conference announced last week that Michigan, currently 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in the AP Top 25, is under NCAA investigation for the alleged sign-stealing scandal, which has grown wider in scope since Yahoo Sports initially broke the story last week and ESPN revealed Stalions as a person of interest.
ESPN, as of Tuesday, “has confirmed that Stalions has purchased tickets to more than 35 games at 17 stadiums around the country” and “used a network of at least three people, who were forwarded the tickets to attend games,” per the website.
Leading into Tuesday’s reports, most of the allegations surrounding Stalions, a retired U.S. Marines Corps captain and off-field analyst for Michigan, had been confined to conference games. ESPN reported Tuesday that 12 of the other 13 schools in the Big Ten had records of Stalions buying a ticket for one of their games.
Soon after the TigerIllustrated report confirming Stalions bought a Clemson ticket, though, ESPN reported there were records of Stalions buying tickets for the 2021 and 2022 SEC championship games.
Alabama beat Georgia in the 2021 SEC title game (the Bulldogs went on to rout Michigan in a CFP semifinal that season), and Georgia beat LSU in the 2022 SEC title game. Those non-conference ticket purchases weren’t previously known.
Outside of those two SEC title games and the Clemson game, Stalions also bought tickets for a Tennessee-Kentucky game and Oregon-Washington game last season, per Yahoo Sports. The Vols and the Ducks were also nationally ranked teams and potential CFP opponents for Michigan.
How does this compare to Clemson stealing signs?
Picking up on other teams’ signals during a game isn’t expressly banned — former Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables and his staff were considered one of the better groups in the country at doing that — but Stalions’ alleged actions run afoul of two NCAA rules banning scouting in opposing stadiums and recording signals from opposing coaches, player and personnel via video and audio.
NCAA bylaw 11.6.1, adopted in 1994, states that “Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited” outside of a few special circumstances, such as basketball coaches scouting a future opponent if they’re playing at the same NCAA Tournament site.
And the 2023 version of the NCAA football rule book states that “Any attempt to record, either through audio or video means, any signals given by an opposing player, coach or other team personnel is prohibited.”
According to ESPN, tickets purchased by Stalions usually were located centrally, somewhere behind future opponents’ sidelines around the 45- or 50-yard line and high up enough in the stadium for a clear view of that sideline. There is also video evidence of a person “sitting in a seat appearing to video the home sideline with a smartphone” in a seat purchased by Stalions, per the website.
ESPN, citing Big Ten sources, reported that teams viewed the Michigan scandal as “distinctly different allegations” than schools trying to pick up signals across the sideline in-game, something that Venables, who is now the coach at No. 7 Oklahoma, was known for in his nine years as Clemson defensive coordinator.
Sports Illustrated featured Clemson’s reputation for stealing opponents’ offensive signals in-game in a November 2020 story, “Follow the Signs: How Clemson Football Mastered the (Totally Legal) Art of Signal Stealing,” and described the Tigers as “masters of the art of the steal” primarily through its large support staff.
Leading into the Tigers’ CFP semifinal final game against Ohio State that season, Yahoo Sports also wrote about the trend and wrote that “Clemson certainly isn’t the only major college program with an army of analysts stealing signals. But it is good enough at it, has the resources to support it and the players to execute what’s pilfered that the reputation has manifested.”
Stalions has been suspended with pay by Michigan pending the outcome of the NCAA investigation. VegasInsider.com currently lists coach Jim Harbaugh’s Wolverines, who’ve won back-to-back Big Ten championships, as the betting favorites to win the 2023 national championship.
This story was originally published October 25, 2023 at 10:28 AM.
