As Thursday night turned into Friday morning, ESPN published a report naming analyst Connor Stalions as an individual at the center of the NCAA investigation into Michigan allegedly scouting future opponents in-person in order to steal their signals.
Stealing signals is not illegal within the NCAA bylaws, but in-person scouting has been agains the rules since 1994.
Stalions is an analyst with Michigan and a retired United States Marine Corps captain. He volunteered with the program from 2015-22 before joining in an official capacity. Stalions also worked as a student assistant at Navy from 2013-16, then as a graduate assistant for the Midshipmen before fully entering the military.
His LinkedIn bio lists his duties with Michigan to "employ Marine Corps philosophies and tactics into the sport of football regarding strategies in staffing, recruiting, scouting, intelligence, planning and more." The bio also said he used his Marine Corps skills to help with "identifying the opponent's most likely course of action and most dangerous course of action" and "identifying and exploiting critical vulnerabilities and centers of gravity in the opponent scouting process."
Yahoo reported Friday that Stallions's identity and role within the Michigan football operation has been known for some time. Stalions's own Instagram page has photos of him standing near defensive coordinators Don Brown and Mike Macdonald. Yahoo published screen shots of Stalions standing within the Michigan coaching staff on sidelines during games, including near Jim Harbaugh.
"I have no awareness of anyone on our staff having done that or having directed that action," Harbaugh said in a statement Thursday. "No matter what program or organization that I have led throughout my career, my instructions and awareness of how we scout opponents have always been firmly within the rules."
The investigation comes as the 2-time defending Big Ten champions are ranked No. 2 in the country in pursuit of a third straight College Football Playoff berth, and as Michigan is embroiled in another NCAA investigation for violating the COVID recruiting dead period.
Michigan suspended Harbaugh for three games to begin this season, but a formal resolution of that case is not expected until next year.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
Update: Michigan has suspended Connor Stalions with pay pending the conclusion of the NCAA investigation.