Michigan Football: Desmond Howard Weighs In On Sign-Stealing Investigation
With the NCAA investigation into the Michigan football program for sign-stealing being the topic of conversation around the college football world, it's no surprise that the College Gameday crew discussed the topic on Saturday.
While all of the hosts acknowledged that it certainly isn't a good look for the football program, Michigan football legend Desmond Howard shared his disappointment as a former player.
“The most disappointing thing as a former player, it’s disappointing to see your program go through this, but the flip side of this is it takes so much attention away from what’s going on on the field,” Howard said. “Like these players are having an outstanding season, and we will sit here and talk eight to nine minutes about Connor [Stalions] and what he’s allegedly did, or was doing, and I think it’s unfair to the players. They’re playing their butts off.”
Howard then shared his thoughts on the individual at the heart of the NCAA investigation, Connor Stalions. Described as a "low-level" staffer, Stalions reportedly had visions of one day running the Michigan football program - and his in-person sign-stealing scheme was going to play a major role in achieving that goal.
“He admitted himself that he first started stealing signs – I don’t think you’d call it stealing signs – like you decode signs that you see from television. That’s how he started,” Howard said. “This is a guy who had a big obsession with becoming Michigan’s head coach. He wrote like a 500-page manifesto on his plan to become Michigan’s head coach. Then he went out and served this obsession by hiring other people to now, I guess, allegedly to steal signs.”
It's 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 within the fan base is that Manuel isn't doing enough to back his head coach. Howard seemed to see things a bit differently.
“AD Warde Manual, he’s a guy who’s one of the best in the country. He’ll be able to help get to the bottom of this because he’s a former player. He takes this personally,” Howard said. “He’s going to help, not only get to the bottom of this but steer 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 something that was well-known within Big Ten circles last year. In fact, it was recently reported that Ohio State informed TCU of Michigan's tactics prior to the College Football Playoff matchup, and that the TCU coaching staff adjusted some of their signals as a result.
For Howard, the common knowledge surrounding Michigan's sign-stealing scheme means that future opponents have plenty of time to make adjustments to how they're calling in plays.
“If there’s a silver lining, now, moving forward, there’s no excuses. There’s no excuses,” Howard said. “For everybody they play now, it is what it is. So I want to see how they perform – Purdue, Penn State, Maryland, Ohio State. No excuses.”
No. 2 Michigan will square off with Purdue at the Big House next Saturday at 7:30 pm ET on NBC.
