Latest ESPN report surrounding Michigan football leaves more questions than answers

The optics around Michigan aren't good at the moment, but there are more questions left unanswered

Michigan acting head coach and offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore watches a replay during the first half against Ohio State at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023. / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Going back to last September, it doesn't seem that Michigan football can go a week -- or days sometimes -- without negative news surrounding it. The reigning national champions were hit once again with negative news on Sunday when ESPN issued a report stating college football insider Pete Thamel received a copy of the NCAA's NOA draft that will be sent to Michigan involving the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal.

The article states that Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore could face a show-cause penalty and possibly a suspension for allegedly deleting a thread of 52 text messages with former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions in October 2023 on the same day that media reports revealed Stalions was leading an effort to capture the playcalling signals of future opponents. The messages were recovered via "device imaging" and Moore later produced them to enforcement staff.

That leads us to our first two questions. What were the text messages Moore deleted AND why does Thamel continue to get information leaked to him from a source in the NCAA?

Deleting text messages on the day news breaks, assuming the report is correct and that did happen, is a terrible look. But obviously the key there is, what did the text messages say? Did he delete random, non-important stuff? Or were there things in there that did matter, like indications of what Stalions was doing? Thamel and Dan Murphy of ESPN failed to include what was in the text messages and if they truly saw the NOA draft, it's hard to imagine those details weren't in there. If there were damning text messages, the NCAA would've probably landed on Michigan way before now, but since they haven't I'm strongly assuming those messages weren't all that important -- just terrible optics.

That leads us back to Thamel and ESPN. We know Jim Harbaugh was not liked by many people outside of Ann Arbor and there were several individuals out to get Harbaugh and Michigan -- way before Stalions did what he did. But isn't it ironic that before news broke to the media, or fans, Thamel was one of the first people who knew what was going on during the whole Stalions' scandal? Why does Michigan have to deal with news leaking left and right? Because someone has an agenda. I also strongly believe that if Michigan did something terribly bad, it should be punished appropriately, but I also believe in allowing for a fair process and nothing about leaking things to Thamel and ESPN yells 'fair'.

NCAA continues to say they can't find anything any evidence supporting Harbaugh knew about Stalions' sign-stealing scheme

According to the NOA draft acquired by ESPN, the NCAA still cannot prove that Harbaugh, or any coaches on the staff, knew about Stalions' sign-stealing scandal.

"The draft of allegations does not provide any evidence that Harbaugh was involved in Stalions' operation or that he knew it was going on. The draft states that Harbaugh failed to actively look for or evaluate "red flags."

The NCAA has been trying its hardest to tie Jim Harbaugh or any Michigan coach to Connor Stalions and his operation. Stalions had impermissibly scouted at least 13 future Michigan opponents on at least 58 occasions between 2021 and 2023, but there's still no proof that Harbaugh knew anything about. The NOA draft does say there were a few interns on Michigan's staff that were involved, but Stalions led them to believe they were inside the rules.

"The investigators also allege that multiple team interns and at least one other full-time team employee knew about the scheme and participated in it. The draft says that Stalions led those individuals to believe that what they were doing was not against the rules."

This feels like the one bright spot of the NOA draft. The NCAA still can't tie the coaching staff to Stalions. However, Harbaugh could receive a show cause if he would ever choose to come back and coach college football. According to Thamel and Murphy, Harbaugh is facing a Level 1 penalty for "not cooperating because he denied the NCAA's request to view relevant messages and phone records from his personal cellphone". Harbaugh's "non-compliant" behavior is what the NCAA has noted.

NCAA has turned to recruiting violations

The general belief is that the NCAA was out to get Harbaugh by any means necessary. Of course, this scandal was the perfect thing to do just that. Harbaugh was the head coach, it was his program, he had to have known about it. But they've still not been able to put together any evidence of Harbaugh knowing, or Sherrone Moore -- unless those texts say otherwise.

So instead, it appears the NCAA might be turning toward more recruiting violations. Michigan already had some prior violations from the COVID-19 dead period back in 2020. According to the NOA draft obtained by ESPN, it looks like Michigan could be facing more recruiting violations. Jim Harbaugh, Denard Robinson, Chris Partridge, Jesse Minter, and Steve Clinkscale -- none of which are with the team any longer -- are all facing violations.

"Former coaches Jesse Minter and Steve Clinkscale are also accused of recruiting violations unrelated to Stalions in the draft."

"He [Chris Partridge] is also accused of several Level 2 rule violations that are not associated with the Stalions case. The draft states that during the spring and summer of 2023, Partridge held on-campus training sessions with at least four prospects."

"Partridge, Clinkscale and Robinson are all accused of providing impermissible benefits to recruits in 2023, including paying for a recruit's meal and providing recruits with team gear. Clinkscale is also accused of helping a recruit get verified on Instagram and for writing a $100 check for a golf charity event that was run by a recruit's father. Partridge and former defensive coordinator Jesse Minter are accused of Level 2 violations for sending text messages to a recruit who was a high school sophomore."

Instead of the NCAA being able to link any of these coaches to Stalions, himself, they are pinning the Wolverines for apparently several violations involving recruits. Would these have came out, or would the NCAA have cared if Stalions wouldn't have done what he did? Who knows.

Bottom line:

Michigan and Connor Stalions did wrong. Rules were broken and some sort of punishment will be handed down. But if the NCAA cannot link Sherrone Moore, or any coaches to Stalions' scheme it's hard to imagine any vacating of wins, or postseason bans will happen. The likely outcome is that the Wolverines lose scholarships and face a hefty fine.

But even after seeing more from the NOA draft from ESPN, there are far more questions than there are answers involving the Connor Stalions' sign-stealing saga.

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