“What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.”

I wish I thought of something that creative. But I didn’t, that’s actually a quote straight from Jim Harbaugh’s Twitter account that he tweeted back in 2015. 

The irony eight years later is so rich.

But in case you aren’t caught up in what I’m alluding to, Michigan football is under NCAA investigation, again. But this incident is much bigger than the minor recruiting violation they committed this summer. Get ready for this one.

ESPN’s College Football Insider Pete Thamel reported that Michigan’s Connor Stalions, a “low-level recruiting analyst,” has allegedly been sent to over 35 football games at 17 stadiums over the past two seasons to video future opponents’ play signs, an NCAA infraction since 1994.

12 out of 13 of Michigan’s fellow Big Ten members have confirmed having video surveillance of Stalions or other representatives seen at their games, recording the opposing sidelines with their cell phones from their seats near the 50 yard line. 

New reports have been released that Stalions also purchased tickets in his name to four non conference games dating back to last season. Clemson and Tennessee have been the first two schools to have been openly mentioned.

And it all makes sense. Those two teams were slated for College Football Playoff appearances last season before suffering unpredicted regular season losses. They thought they were covering their tracks.

But the question still lingers: who really is Connor Stalions?

Well, all we know is that he’s a former Marine Captain and diehard Michigan fan who joined the Wolverines’ staff no earlier than 2020.

Photo and video evidence taken last season show Stalions on multiple occasions standing next to either Michigan defensive coordinator Jesse Minter or offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore during games depending on whose unit was on the field. A zoomed-in shot of what’s surmised to be a laminated sheet of Ohio State’s signs during their game last year has also surfaced on social media.

Surely a staff member deemed that low on the totem pole wouldn’t need to be at his coordinators’ hips, right? 

This whole thing just reeks. 

Michigan fans have resorted to the “lack of evidence” had by the NCAA to convince themselves that their best team in two decades is still headed down Championship Boulevard, but like any other scandal to this magnitude, the details are continuing to leak like a sieve.

The latest article by the Washington Post reports that a firm approached the NCAA about their further search into the situation, in which they collected an abundance of incriminating evidence.

Included in the findings was a “detailed” schedule of Michigan’s planned travel for their sign-stealing operation, which listed their opponents’ schedules, which staff affiliates would attend each games, and the calculated expense each would be for the ticket and travel.

Even the programs that they anticipated traveling to see were listed out, with Ohio State sitting at the top as expected. The report states that Michigan assigned staffers to attend up to eight of their rivals’ games.

The expense was projected to be over $3,000 to scout Ohio State illicitly.

Georgia was next on the list, an expected target as the Bulldogs are the back-to-back defending National Champions and are a projected candidate again to make the playoffs. Michigan had four to five games queued to send associates to watch Georgia, which was also anticipated to cost over $3,000.

According to the Washington Post, the entire operation was believed to cost over $15,000 to go see over 40 games.

It may be also important to note that Stalions’ role with Michigan football earns him a salary of $55,000 a year, per the team website. That’s not exactly a guy who appears able to afford operating this on his own dime.

Can this guy just be downright insane? I wouldn’t put it past him. Sports Illustrated did some of their own digging, and discovered a 550-600 page Google doc that Stalions wrote called “ the Michigan Manifesto.” The document contained an extremely extensive master plan of his to one day take over the Michigan program. 

Just ludicrous.

But before we outcast Stalions to be this crazed lunatic that the Michigan staff had no control over, let’s revert back to the evidence from last season.

This “low level” staff member just so happens to be right in the ears of both Michigan coordinators during these games. Employees to this tier typically are off in the corner of the endzone standing besides other fellow staffers and cameramen. Definitely not in the coaches box.

The NCAA will move slow on this, like they do with just about everything else. But the NCAA isn’t the monster in the closet that Michigan should be fearing currently.

That would be the Big Ten and the College Football Playoff committee, two organizations that do not work hand in hand with the NCAA and have as much power to punish the program if deemed necessary.

Whether this affects the Wolverines’ 2023 National Championship hopes or it’s just a ticking time bomb waiting for them in 2024, this is going to get really ugly in Ann Arbor, and those losers deserve every ounce that’s coming for them.

As mentioned before, insider information is continuously being leaked on this investigation. I don’t expect this canvas to be fully painted for another couple of weeks, but I believe this only gets worse.

For a program and fan base that beats their chest over doing things the “right” way, this story couldn’t bring more of a smile to my face.

Pride comes before the fall.