5 biggest takeaways from Connor Stalions' 'Untold' sign-stealing Netflix documentary
A new documentary on Connor Stalions has revealed details about the sign-stealing scheme at Michigan during the 2023 season. Stalions was the staffer on coach Jim Harbaugh's team who arranged the premeditated scouting of Big Ten opponents to steal their hand signals ahead of their conference games. While sign-stealing midgame is permitted, doing so ahead of games is forbidden by the NCAA.
Let's check what new facts were revealed by the new Netflix production part of the Untold series.
Biggest takeaways from the Connor Stalions Untold documentary
#5 The Stalions are a Wolverine family
The documentary revealed that Stalions' passion for Michigan comes from his family, with both his parents being diehard Wolverines fans. His father even revealed that Stalions' dream was to be the coach for Michigan.
#4 Stalions went into the Navy due to football
Stalions reasoning for attending the US Naval Academy wasn't military, but he was interested in the institution due to its football heritage. He also said he wanted to follow in the footsteps of coaches like Mike Krzyzewski, Gregg Popovich, John Wooden, Bear Bryant, Woody Hayes and Schembechler who all served in the armed forces.
#3 Sign-stealing started at Annapolis
Stalions got his first coaching job at Annapolis as a student coach. In his first game for the Midshipmen, he realized he had a knack for deciphering the rivals' signals. Even though the Navy lost 34-17 against Ohio State, he correctly called every play the Buckeyes ran.
#2 He maintains that he never advanced scouted
Stalions maintains that he never advance-scouted any game, but that he's just being persecuted because he took the sign-stealing process to a whole new level. Here's how he explained what he did in the documentary:
“First of all, I’ve never advance-scouted,” Stalions said. “Two, if this is about signals, I obtain signals the same way every other team does: through watching TV copies and talking to other intel guys on other teams. What set me apart was the way in which I organized that information and processed it on gameday.”
He did buy tickets to over 30 Big Ten games, at 11 different schools, over three years.
#1 He met Jim Harbaugh at a football clinic in 2018
Stalions said that he and his father went to a football clinic offered by Harbaugh soon after Michigan hired the coach. There, he met linebackers coach Chris Partridge to whom he allegedly said:
“I asked, ‘Is there any way I can help out next week?' He said, 'Yeah, show up on Monday. We’ll find something for you to do.’”
According to the documentary, Partridge then told the Michigan coaching staff that Stalions had worked for the Navy helping them steal signs and that he could do the same for them. It's unclear if Harbaugh was part of this conversation.