At the risk of flaring PTSD within the Michigan faithful, harp your minds back to early November. The mood in and around Ann Arbor was as grim as ever. The defending champions were floundering under the new regime, and had just lost back to back games against a couple of B1G contemporaries. Getting blown out by Oregon at the Big House felt like rock bottom. Except, the Wolverines descended even further into the abyss next weekend with a loss to Indiana. The Sherrone Moore era had begun horribly. Then came a line in the sand. One that not only altered the perception around the program’s long-term future, but was such a shot in the arm it propelled them to results in the immediate as well. This, of course, was the mythical Bryce Underwood flip from LSU. Which, courtesy of Connor Stalions, is now a little less mythical.
5-star Bryce Underwood, the No.1 overall prospect in the class of ‘25, seemed destined for SEC football with Brian Kelly’s LSU. An heir to their lineage of great QBs this decade. However, Michigan pulled a stunning heist. Underwood being an in-state recruit helped, and so did an unprecedented NIL package north of $10 million. But the UMich brass, coaches or fans didn’t care. They’d just gotten themselves a messiah to led them back to their pedestal. But perhaps the biggest unsung hero in their successful flip is former Michigan staffer Connor Stalions. Who came into Underwood’s Belleville team as an offensive coordinator at the most opportune time.
Connor Stalions’ time in Ann Arbor was short and marred with controversy. He was alleged to have played a prominent role in the school’s sign-stealing scandal, which continues to blemish the Jim Harbaugh-led National championship. In fact, Stalions had his hands forced into resigning from his role as defensive analyst. Despite this, he has no hard feelings for the maize and blue whatsoever. He’s a fan, after all. One who may have taken his fandom too far. Alas, Stalions would eventually wind up at Belleville High School to be OC for their imminent playoff run. Here, he’d finally meet Bryce Underwood for the first time. Stalions gave his account of that very day in an interview over the Crain & Company YouTube channel. The genesis of this relationship between Underwood and Stalions would end up being the first domino in the former’s flip to Michigan.
Connor Stalions explains what makes QB Bryce Underwood so special #MichiganFootball @cpstalions pic.twitter.com/IO301NcVrs
— Crain & Company (@CrainCompany) April 1, 2025
Connor Stalions reminisced about how Bryce Underwood broke the ice by telling him he and his girlfriend had seen the Netflix documentary about Stalions and the aforementioned scandal. “I just had to address the elephant in the room right away,” said Stalions. He delved into what he told Underwood about Michigan and their interest in him, which was already national news. Stalions recalled saying to Underwood “Look, obviously you know I’m a big Michigan guy. Obviously, I would love to see you play at Michigan. [But] I am not here to recruit you. I’m not going to mention one word about Michigan. [If] you have questions, I’ll answer them, yeah. But I’m here to help you win football games, Help you expand your knowledge of the game,” Well, Underwood did have questions.
Stalions continued, “We had some conversations about financial education [and] actual football. Sometimes he’d bring up [questions] like, ‘What’s the atmosphere like in the building? What’s Coach Moore like?’” It’s possible Bryce Underwood was merely being curious, as someone who grew up in a Michigan household. But while Stalions naturally couldn’t spare too much detail about this aspect of his time at Belleville, it can be presumed his arrival did help shift the dynamic of that recruitment. Nudge it a little away from LSU before it eventually tipped over. Underwood already seemed in on the idea, and Stalions helped make the decision, albeit subliminally. Sherrone Moore and Michigan fans will sure be grateful to him. Stalions has also made comments on the sworn enemies Ohio State while clearing the air on the infamous scandal.
Connor Stalions flips the script of the sign-stealing debacle onto the Buckeyes
Connor Stalions’ career as a coach and image in the football sphere took a real hit after that sign-stealing fiasco. Earlier in the week, he did an interview with On3 to give his side of the story. Stalions alleges that Michigan wasn’t stealing signs by illicitly sending scouts to other teams. They were trying to protect their own signs. He namedropped Ohio State as one of the programs this shielding was underway from.
“Let’s not kid ourselves here. I would say 95 percent of teams have 95 percent of teams’ signals. So, it’s about how you protect, how you decipher, how you employ it,” remarked Stalions. “We were getting taken advantage of. Ohio State was really abusing us in 2018 and 2019.” It’s noteworthy that ’19 was HC Ryan Day’s first year in Columbus. It’s also the only time he ever managed to beat Michigan. Stalions proceeded to explain how every time Michigan called a play, Ohio State seemed to run the exact antidote to it. “We’re just looking at each other, and our minds [are] like, ‘Delay of game’s on you, buddy, so you might wanna start calling your play,’. You could tell that’s what got them rattled, because they were so reliant on knowing your signal. he added.
The intricacies of how Connor Stalions laid this out do imply there’s some truth to this. But we do not know if the Buckeyes merely picked up opposition signals from the games or sent scouts off campus to go and source them like Michigan allegedly did. Well, this is a thing of the past now. Both programs have come a long way since 2023. In opposite directions through- begrudgingly for those of a blue and maize persuasion. They’d hope Bryce Underwood forces a turnaround of fortunes.
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