Five Questions Surrounding The Michigan Sign-Stealing Allegations

So many weird things have been reported that it's all really hard to make sense of.

During Michigan's bye week, details about the sign stealing allegations keep emerging and it's honestly pretty hard to follow. Reporters from different outlets are saying different things on a minute-by-minute basis and it's all really tough to decipher when it comes to what has happened, what hasn't and when. Still, regardless of what's been proven and what hasn't, I find myself asking a lot of questions.

1. What exactly is Connor Stalions all about?

I don't know Connor Stalions personally, but I have exchanged messages with him before, and he seems/seemed like a stand up dude. He obviously has a military background and he's been proven to be a thinker and a grinder. Obviously the allegations at hand make him seem a little strange and not so stand-up.

Was he really some master codebreaker with one job at Michigan? That seems a little far-fetched to me, but he's been described as such. Did everyone in the building really know why he was around the program? Was it as widely known as it's been described? If so, how come his name is the only one to come out as having done something wrong? How is that possible? Did he piss someone off at Michigan? I've been told that someone within the program may have had an axe to grind with Stalions, and U-M in general, and that's why and how some of this information has been discovered so fast.

2. Who the hell has a manifesto?

I've literally never heard anything like this. It's been reported that Stalions, along with several other people around the program, had a 500/600-page manifesto outlining their plan to run Michigan football someday. Umm....what? Who does that and how are there multiple people on the same page about it? I have so many questions about this manifesto I don't really know where to start. Who saw it and what did they think? Were the Michigan coaches and higher-up staff members aware of it? Were there ever any discussions about it between people who truly matter at Michigan? I'm not taking a shot at Stalions or the others involved with the manifesto, but they definitely don't matter as much in the grand scheme as Jim Harbaugh, the on-field assistants, the players, Ben Herbert and Abigail O'Connor, just to name a few. That whole deal is just very bizarre and feels like a red flag now.

3. Why do it?

The Michigan football team did not need anyone's help. With all the veteran leadership talent and coaching, especially within the 2023 program, the team can and would've won games without any "illegal" advantage. If Stalions really made decisions to act on his own, why? If the coaches decided to instruct him, an even bigger why? I just can't really figure out why people needed to be at the games in person. If sign stealing and codebreaking is allowed via film and broadcasts, why step into an area that could get a program into trouble? I just can't understand how this ever came about.

4. How much of advantage is it really?

This gets more into the rule itself, because if stealing signs from all-22 film and off of TV broadcasts is allowed, how much more can you actually get from being at the games in person? I understand that angles might be better and you can direct your attention exactly where you want if you're sitting in the stands, but I just don't see how you'd really be able to get more and better information to the point of gaining a competitive advantage that way. 

5. Did the players have any idea?

This is one of the huge questions because the players are the ones affected by this the most if punishments eventually get handed down. Will wins be vacated? Will championships and trips to the College Football Playoff be erased? If so, that really, really sucks for the players who may not have had any idea about how they were being directed or coached. If they didn't know, what a bummer of a situation for them. If they did know, were they on board with the approach? I can imagine some of the supremely confident leaders types would be thinking, "What the heck, Coach? We're not good enough without cheating?" This whole situation just sucks for the players who are now being viewed as cheaters whether the NCAA finds concrete proof or not.