Who is Connor Stalions? All about the Michigan staffer at the center of the NCAA’s sign-stealing probe

Michigan football has been hit with investigations into illegal sign-stealing, and the man at the center of the conspiracy, Connor Stalions, has an astonishing background.

While sign stealing by itself is not technically illegal, the NCAA bylaw 11.6.1 prohibits “off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents during the same season.”

So, who is Connor Stalions?

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Who is Connor Stalions?

Connor Stalions is a member of Michigan's recruiting department specializing in analytics. He joined the Wolverines after leaving the U.S. Marine Corps last year but has been a voluntary assistant to the team for a few years.

According to The Athletic, between 2013 and 2016, Stalions worked in the Navy football program while attending the Naval Academy, giving him the background to work for Michigan's recruitment department.

Stalions deactivated his LinkedIn account after the scandal broke, but before that, his bio raised eyebrows at how prophetic it proved to be.

“'Identifying the opponent’s most likely course of action and most dangerous course of action' and 'identifying and exploiting critical vulnerabilities,'” the bio read.

According to ESPN, Connor Stalions purchased more than 30 tickets to different Big Ten games involving 11 different programs in the past three years.

Stalions also bought tickets to Ohio State versus Penn State in Week 8 of college football action. They were unused, but the seats faced the benches of both teams that the Wolverines are yet to meet.

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Is the NCAA targeting Michigan?

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has been in the NCAA crosshairs for a while now and has had to battle a recruitment violation charge during the COVID-19 dead period.

His matter is yet to be resolved, and Michigan even suspended him for three games at the start of the season. This new scandal has piled onto the earlier investigation.

Harbaugh released a statement on the scandal when the news broke, distancing himself from the issue.

After the blowout win against Michigan State, Harbaugh confirmed the feeling that the issue seems targeted at the Wolverines.

"Uh, yeah, I think success does that," Harbaugh said. "There's people who don't like to see people be successful. You know? And there's a target? Yeah. Everybody's pointed that out from the beginning of the season.

"But our guys are really just very focused and just go about their business, you know? Wake up. Take care of business today. And then we still gotta get the guys back to Ann Arbor and wake up tomorrow and take care of business again."

According to ESPN sources, the NCAA will receive video evidence of illegal technology used by Michigan tied to the tickets to various games purchased by Connor Stalions.

For Jim Harbaugh and Michigan, it must seem like the NCAA is out to get them.