Connor Stalions, a former staff member of the Michigan football team, is now speaking out about the sign-stealing controversy surrounding the program.

In the newly released Netflix documentary, “Sign Stealer,” which debuted early Tuesday, Stalions offered a comprehensive look at his perspective for the first time after a series of national news stories and an ongoing NCAA investigation into his involvement. This release coincided with Michigan acknowledging it had received a notice of allegations from the NCAA concerning these claims.

During the film, Stalions touched on various subjects related to sign stealing. Notably, the documentary showcased his interview with the NCAA, where he explained his defense against the charges against Michigan.

Here’s a summary of the key points Stalions made in “Sign Stealer,” alongside what to consider after watching the documentary, which leaves numerous questions unanswered:

What Connor Stalions Shared with the NCAA in ‘Sign Stealer’

A pivotal moment in “Sign Stealer” comes over an hour into the documentary, where Stalions’ Zoom interview with the NCAA from April is featured.

In this interview, an NCAA investigator probed whether any coaches or staff at Michigan knew that he “obtained and/or had access to opponents’ signals via in-person advanced scouting.” (NCAA regulations permit scouting signs from game footage or during actual games but prohibit prior in-person scouting).

Stalions asserted, “I did not obtain signals through in-person scouting.”

He further denied directing anyone to attend a college football game where Michigan wasn’t participating. However, when questioned about buying tickets to other college games and giving or reselling them to others, he admitted, “there are some individuals who went to games with tickets I purchased and recorded parts of those games. Sometimes I would receive film from them.”

In a separate segment recorded apart from his NCAA interview, Stalions maintained he had already memorized the signs from the footage.

“A friend sent me film. It’s like when your aunt gives you a Christmas gift that you already own. You won’t be rude and say, ‘I have this already, no thanks.’ Instead, you reply with, ‘Thanks, I appreciate it.’ They believe they’re lending a hand when I’ve already memorized everything,” he stated.

“First off, I’ve never engaged in advance scouting,” he revealed while detailing how he learned he was under investigation. “Secondly, if this inquiry is about signals, I acquire them like other teams do: by watching television replays and exchanging info with contacts at other teams. What makes my method unique is how I organized and processed that data on game days.”

Stalions on Central Michigan vs. Michigan State Game

The allegations about Stalions being on the Central Michigan sideline during their September 2023 match against Michigan State—dressed like a member of Central Michigan’s coaching team—became a significant highlight of the scandal.

In a segment of the documentary, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy indicates that Stalions, who had appeared on various Barstool platforms after the scandal emerged, admitted he was present at the game. Contrarily, Stalions later records himself showing a photo of him supposedly in Central Michigan attire and states, “I don’t think this person even looks like me.”

When directly asked about attending the Central Michigan-Michigan State game by the NCAA, Stalions replied, “I don’t remember attending that specific game.”

Stalions on Ohio State Rivalry

Stalions, raised in a family of passionate Michigan supporters, does not hide his aversion to Ohio State during the documentary. The film also examines whether Ohio State influenced the NCAA’s awareness of Michigan’s alleged sign-stealing operations. At the conclusion of Stalions’ NCAA interview, a major conspiracy theory is introduced by his legal counsel:

“We believe that Connor’s private data was accessed by someone unauthorized,” stated Stalions’ lawyer, Brad Beckworth. “If that is true, it could violate civil laws and potentially involve a more serious crime. If it turns out someone connected to Ohio State University was behind this, that’s where I’d focus my efforts to rectify the situation. Was this taken without Connor’s consent?”

Stalions Discusses His Involvement in Sign Stealing

Stalions recounts how his journey into sign stealing commenced during his time as a student coach for Navy football at the Naval Academy in 2014. His experiences in California Before joining the Michigan staff, Stalions served in the Marine Corps and volunteered by analyzing rival teams’ signals from game footage. He traveled across the U.S. at his own expense to do this.

In 2021, Stalions became a compensated member of the Michigan coaching team and was directed by “my coach” to lead a sign-stealing initiative. This operation was also aimed at safeguarding Michigan’s own signals from being intercepted, though Stalions didn’t reveal which coach assigned him this task.

“At Michigan, we were at the bottom of the intelligence operations hierarchy, but you might not realize it if there’s someone focused on it,” Stalions explained. “From my perspective, 80 to 90 percent of teams employ someone for intelligence operations. So as I began to understand the culture around college football intelligence, I thought, ‘As a Marine Corps captain, I can’t be worse at this than they are, right?’”

According to Stalions, his game day strategy, which utilized a database filled with images of himself executing countless possible signals, set his operation apart from others.

“Rather than memorizing words, I focused on memorizing images, which I’d say is the main reason I excelled at interpreting signals,” Stalions mentioned. “I’ve often been asked how frequently I make mistakes. The truth is, I’m hardly ever wrong.”