College Football

Colorado's Deion Sanders dismisses impact of Michigan's alleged sign stealing

Updated Oct. 24, 2023 5:40 p.m. ET

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The college football world has been rocked by an NCAA investigation into alleged illegal sign stealing by Michigan. The Wolverines have placed a staffer, Conor Stalions, on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation, which is reportedly centered on whether Stalions broke a 1994 NCAA rule forbidding in-person advance scouting and using electronic equipment to decode opponents' signs.

According to multiple reports, other Big Ten schools had expressed concern about Michigan illegally stealing signs, and after Stalions' name was revealed in an ESPN report, multiple schools found records of tickets to their home games purchased by him. 

Additionally, photos and videos surfaced Tuesday of Stalions standing near Michigan's offensive and defensive coordinators during the Wolverines' 45-23 rivalry win over Ohio State last November.

Stalions has not been formally accused of any illegal activity by the NCAA, and his level of involvement with Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh's top assistants remains unclear. Harbaugh himself has denied any knowledge of illegal sign stealing. However, one of Harbaugh's most prominent peers in college football — Colorado's Deion Sanders — does not believe knowledge of another team's signs has that much of an impact in a football game.

"Everyone's trying to get an edge," Sanders said. "Everyone's trying to get whatever edge they can. You could have someone's whole game plan. They can mail it to you. You've still got to stop it. 

"In football, it's not as pronounced as baseball. If I know a curveball is coming, I got you. With football, I don't give a darn if you know a sweep is coming. You've still got to stop it. It's a physical game, you've got to stop it. So that's a little tough. I don't buy into a lot of that stuff, someone's stealing this, stealing that."

Sanders' unprompted contrast between sign stealing in baseball and football is interesting for multiple reasons. First, he is perhaps the most qualified person to make that comparison, having played several years in Major League Baseball in addition to his Hall of Fame NFL career. Second, many have been drawing comparisons between Michigan's alleged sign stealing and what the Houston Astros did in 2017, when they won the World Series while sharing stolen pitch signs with their hitters using an elaborate system that involved video cameras and hitting trash cans.

"You've still got to play the game," Sanders said. "Back in our glory days with San Francisco as well as the Cowboys, you knew darn well that Emmett Smith is getting the ball. You knew darn well Michael Irvin was running the comeback [route]. You knew darn well Jay Novacek was gonna do what he was gonna do. And you couldn't stop it. It is what it is."

Colorado returns Saturday after its bye week to play one of Michigan's future Big 10 opponents, UCLA, while the Wolverines have their own bye.

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