Stolen Signs and Injuries (i.e. the MSU Complaint), Revisited
In the maelstrom of the past two weeks let's not forget that have Allen Haller saying this:
Haller worried about players potentially getting hurt because Michigan players, in theory, knew where they'd be going on plays," Thamel wrote.
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state/spartans/2023…
We all kind of shrugged that off as complaining, right? Ok, so why is that relevant? Because, now we have this:
However, an Illinois staffer from last season where Ryan Walters was the defensive coordinator, has confirmed to The Wolverine that Walters and Illinois had stolen Michigan’s offensive signals last season.
https://gbmwolverine.com/2023/11/06/illinois-used-stolen-signals-agains…
I think we will all remember that Michigan lost someone pretty important in that game to a (basically) season ending injury that derailed a Heisman Trophy candidacy. So, if the Haller argument is going to stick out there as something that gained (at least some) traction, I look forward to the media tracking down this path against Illinois and an ACTUAL injury from a game with an opponent who stole Michigan's signs (with collaboration from other Big Ten teams).
November 6th, 2023 at 7:18 PM ^
I am pretty sure that Walters had other teams' signal too, and Brian Ferentz must be one of his victims.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:25 PM ^
I prefer to focus on the fact that it's a complete horse shit position.
Also Rhule echoed health and safety, let's not forget.
November 6th, 2023 at 7:31 PM ^
This hypothesis is not rational. There is no relationship between knowing the play and an increased likelihood of injury. Most likely the opposite. If I know the play, then I can stop it without other unnecessary contact. Someone wants to tie a helmet to the knee because they knew the play?
But then, again, my hypothesis is that all of the work by Conner Stalions yielded not a damn thing that presented Michigan with an advantage. Harbaugh knew nothing of Stalions's work because it didn't present Jim with something he didn't already know. Jim never had a reason to say, "hey, this is pretty good. How did you do this?"
Please, make it stop.