Male states U-M staffer paid him to tape Big 10

• Dan Murphy, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterOct 27, 2023, 06:53 PM ET Close Covers the Big Ten
  • Signed up with ESPN.com in 2014
  • Graduate of the University of Notre Dame

Suspended Michigan football staffer Connor Stalions compensated at least one person for recording future Wolverine challengers with “a couple hundred dollars” and a ticket to a Michigan home game, according to the person.The man, a previous Department 3 football player and coach, spoke to ESPN on the condition that his name not be released due to the fact that he was worried about his personal privacy. He is the first individual who was involved in the alleged cheating scheme to openly share information about their role.He said he attended 3 Huge Ten games throughout the past two years to record the sidelines of a future Michigan opponent. He stated he submitted the videos he took on his personal cell phone to a shared iPhone photo album, but does not understand who else besides Stalions had access to the album.He stated he

watched out for Stalions’ strategy “to a degree” when he was very first approached to tape the games, but felt that if somebody from Michigan’s personnel was asking him to do this that it must fall safely in the gray area of college football’s sign-stealing rules.Editor’s Picks

1 Related”I didn’t like it, however it’s a gray line, “he said.” You can call me naive, however nobody is reading the bylaws. I’m not a contractual attorney. … I simply seemed like if you’re not doing it, you’re not trying to get ahead.”

It protests NCAA guidelines for employee of a football program to hunt games of future opponents in person. The NCAA football rulebook likewise prohibits “an opposing player, coach or other group workers” from recording a challenger’s signals through audio or video. The NCAA is investigating claims that Michigan used a big network of people to tape games of future challengers. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh denied any understanding of the alleged scheme in a statement last week. A Michigan spokesperson included on Friday that “due to the ongoing examination, no one from Michigan will have the ability to comment beyond what was shared recently.”

According to a LinkedIn page he has recently deleted, Stalions is a previous officer in the Marine Corps who was employed as a member of the program’s recruiting personnel in 2022 and worked with the group as a volunteer for a number of years before then. Images from recent Michigan games show he frequently stood beside the group’s play callers on the sideline during games. Michigan suspended Stalions with pay last Friday, and sources told ESPN that the NCAA is seeking his computer as part of their investigation.Stalions did not return multiple telephone call looking for a comment for this story.The source who talked to ESPN Friday stated he went to games

at Rutgers and Penn State last season and another game at Penn State last month. “I only did a half due to the fact that it was putting rain

and they were playing UMass. It didn’t pay all right so I was like,’yeah, I’m not remaining here.'”He said that before the news of the investigation was made public Stalions likewise offered him a ticket to this coming Saturday’s game in between Indiana and Penn State. He does not plan to attend.He said at the games he attended he filmed every drive from his seat in the stands about 15-20 rows above field level. He stated he attempted to movie wide adequate to include the sideline and the majority of the team’s on-field development so members of the Michigan personnel would be able to sync his videos with other film and decode the team’s signals. He said he had the ability to record enough of the coaches on the sideline that their signals showed up for someone who zoomed in on the tape-recorded video.” A great deal of people might say you can just rip that from the All-22 [wide-shot video game movie] Well, it’s not that easy, “he stated.

“This makes it easier to mirror things up and get those propensities.”He said for the 3 games he taped he got approximately$ 1,000 to cover his travel costs and pay for his time. He stated Stalions paid him from an individual Venmo account.Stalions purchased tickets

to a minimum of 35 total games featuring 12 other Huge 10 teams and a number of other possible College Football Playoff groups throughout the last 3 years, sources informed ESPN earlier today.

The Washington Post reported previously this week that detectives worked with by an unidentified source to check out Michigan’s operation found proof that the searching trips were expected to cost more than$15,000 this year. Stalions, according to the university’s site, received a yearly wage of$ 55,000. The source said he has not yet been called by any investigators from the NCAA or elsewhere.ESPN contacted a number of other individuals today whose names were connected to ticket purchases made by Stalions. One female based in Jacksonville said she was friends with Stalions from their time together in the military however hung up quickly when inquired about attending in 2015’s Florida-Georgia game in Jacksonville. One other previous Michigan team member, Andrew Barlage, was among the names linked to tickets acquired by Stalions. According to Barlage’s LinkedIn page he was the head recruiting intern at Michigan in 2021 and worked as a graduate assistant for Akron’s football program in 2022. He did not respond to several call seeking comment.The source who did speak to ESPN said he was not aware of the number of people helped tape the games. He stated he presumed someone else was helping to money the trips, but that he only ever spoke with Stalions.”I wasn’t doing it for individual gain or wishing to get my foot in the door if Conor becomes a head coach one day,”he stated.” It was simply I got to go to some Big Ten games, alright sweet.

And everybody else I felt was doing it to some degree. It’s a billion-dollar industry. You’re going to operate in the gray areas as best you can. “ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this story.