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The Michigan sign stealing scandal swept through college football around the time of the program’s 2023 national championship. Assistant coach Connor Stalions was at the forefront of the controversy.
Stalions resigned from his post before the title game. He was the Wolverines‘ fall guy as they trekked onto a perfect 15-0 season.
The scandal revolved around claims of espionage and secret recordings. Stalions was said to have either attended or sent colleagues in his place to videotape the sidelines of future foes.
In doing so, Michigan supposedly gained intel into opposing signal calling to be installed into later gameplans.
Connor Stalions helped Michigan beat Ohio State.
The Wolverines entered the 2021 season losers of 15 of the previous 16 rivalry matchups. They ended an eight-game losing skid that November with a 42-27 win.
The following year, they again beat the Buckeyes by double figures. Former Ohio State defender Jack Sawyer says something felt off about that particular matchup.
“My sophomore year, we left the field, and we were like, ‘This feels weird,'” he said on a recent podcast appearance. “We lost by double digits, and it felt like we’d beat the s— out of them all game.
“We ran a screen pass that we’d never put in – not the formation, not the look, not anything… When we run it, all the d-linemen, as soon as the ball is snapped, the linebackers, everybody, they sniffed it out.”
Sawyer suggested that sign stealing played a significant role in the win. Stalions disagrees.
Connor Stalions caught Jack Sawyer in a lie.
Stalions refuted the linebacker’s claims. He provided four bullet points in his explanation.
1. Jack is saying Ohio St never ran a Slot YY formation all year (pull up any of their games on YouTube and you’ll see them run that look).
2. Their signal for this play was: – The letter “Y” (TE in 99% of offenses) – The Delay of Game sign So “Y Delay.” Wonder what this will be…
3. Jack is admitting they never ran it before.
4. Your head coach already admitted that you changed your signs for us.–@cpstalions / X
The former UM assistant says Sawyer was being untruthful. Ohio State had run this specific formation in past games. He also said that the coaching staff did little to disguise play calling with simple signaling from the sidelines.
Maybe his best point came at No. 3. If the Buckeyes had never run the play before, as Sawyer suggests, it would be impossible for Stalions to get access to that information from a prior contest.
Stalions admitted to swiping the “Y Delay” signal during game action. That is not illegal. If it was as easy as he led on, that’s on Ohio State.
Who is Jack Sawyer?
Sawyer was a star linebacker in Columbus for four seasons. Unfortunately, his college stint fell in line with Ohio State’s four-year losing streak to its most hated rival.
Sawyer won a national title in his final season. He played a major role in the unexpected playoff run.
He never, however, beat Michigan.
Connor Stalions senses some saltiness in his latest commentary on the sign stealing scandal. He did his best to disprove Sawyer’s narrative in the Wolverines’ defense.