With the NCAA’s investigation into the Michigan football program for sign stealing being the talk of the college football world, it’s no surprise that the College Gameday crew discussed the topic Saturday.
While all of the hosts agreed that this was definitely not a good idea for the football program, Michigan football legend Desmond Howard shared his disappointment as a former player.
“The most disappointing thing as a former player is to see your program go through this, but the flip side of that is it distracts so much from what’s happening on the field,” Howard said . “These players are having an exceptional season, and we’re going to sit here and talk for eight to nine minutes about Connor (Stallions) and what he would have done, or was doing, and I think it’s unfair to the players. They play hard.”
Howard then shared his thoughts on the individual at the heart of the NCAA investigation, Connor Stalions. Described as a “low-level” staff member, Stalions allegedly had a vision of one day running the Michigan football program — and his in-person sign-stealing plan would play a major role in achieving that goal.
“He himself admitted that he started by stealing signs – I don’t think you would call it sign stealing – the way you decode the signs you see on television. That’s how he started,” Howard said. “He’s a guy who had a big obsession with becoming the head coach at Michigan. He wrote a 500-page manifesto about his plans to become Michigan’s head coach. Then he went out and served that obsession by hiring other people to now, I guess, supposedly steal signs.
It has also been reported that head coach Jim Harbaugh and Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel have a frosty relationship at best, and the belief among many fans is that Manuel is not doing enough to support his coach -chief. Howard seemed to see things a little differently.
“AD Warde Manual, he’s a guy who’s one of the best in the country. He will be able to help us get to the bottom of things because he is a former player. He takes it personally,” Howard said. “He’s going to help, not only get to the bottom of things, but also help direct this program where it needs to go.”
Ultimately, the accusations against Michigan are well known at this point. In fact, Michigan’s sign-stealing scheme was apparently well known in Big Ten circles last year. In fact, it was recently reported that Ohio State informed TCU of Michigan’s tactics before the College Football Playoff game and that the TCU coaching staff adjusted some of its signals accordingly.
For Howard, the common knowledge of Michigan’s sign-stealing system means future opponents will have plenty of time to adjust how they call plays.
“If there is a glimmer of hope, now, in the future, there are no more excuses. There’s no excuse,” Howard said. “For everyone they play now, it’s like that. So I want to see how they perform – Purdue, Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State. No excuses.”
No. 2 Michigan will face Purdue at the Big House next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
