The Michigan sign-stealing controversy just won’t die. And this time, it’s dragging up a ghost from Ohio State’s past. Remember 2010? The fallout that cost Jim Tressel his job after the Buckeyes players were found exchanging their jerseys for tattoos? The OSU officials said he broke NCAA rules for hiding information about the transaction. A violation that led to a massive penalty. A similar scenario is cooking in Ann Arbor, and Sherrone Moore is in a hot mix. Only Michigan’s new case is graver than the past one. The consequence? “It can’t be a nothing burger,” said a former Ohio State WR coach. 

Zach Smith is sore from what happened in the past in Columbus and what’s happening now at Ann Arbor. In his appearance on College Football Addiction on February 2, he made his voice heard, saying, “Everything that Michigan has done has been more severe than that. They had a racketeering operation that was going flying to games, buying tickets, recording signals. We all know the story.” And it’s Sherrone Moore’s shady involvement in this whole scene that struck Smith speechless — “But the most important thing that came out in their response was Sherrone Moore originally said he deleted those messages because I was so angry that someone would do that to these kids and these players and this team.” 

When the sign-stealing issue broke out in late 2023, Sherrone Moore made a very suspicious move. The NCAA’s investigation uncovered that the new Wolverines HC allegedly deleted 52 text messages with Connor Stalions, the point person in the inquiry. But the school insisted that those texts were “innocuous and not material to the investigation.”

This was what Sherrone Moore said about his decision to delete the texts—“So, deleted all the information—all Connor, on my personal phone. And it wasn’t to hide anything, it was just that—I was just extremely angry of, you know, the type of person that would do that to this program and these kids.” 

But for Smith, that excuse isn’t cutting it. OSU suspended Tressel for the first two games of the upcoming season with a $250,000 fine, and he later resigned in May 2011. For Moore and Michigan?

He has it laid out, “If I had to guess, I think you’re gonna get a one-year postseason ban. They’re gonna vacate all of 2022 and half of 2023 which will then in turn vacate the championship and I think Sherrone Moore gets suspended.” Fire is a strong word, as Smith feels he’s part of the conspiracy with the way he handled the deleted messages. These observations surfaced after Michigan protested against the NCAA’s notice of allegations regarding the sign stealing controversy. 

Michigan holds defensive stance against NCAA

The University of Michigan is standing its grounds against the NCAA, per a 137-page document by Yahoo Sports. It labeled the alleged rule violations as “grossly overreaching” and “wildly overcharging” with no solid evidence. The school defended its former HC Jim Harbaugh, current HC, several coaches, and even Stalions, stating that it should be treated as a minor violation because the sign-stealing system provided “minimal relevance to competition.” 

Michigan’s stance on the fight also rests on the claim that the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations has “numerous factually unsupported infractions, exaggerates aggravating factors, and ignores mitigating facts.” It also held that the officials should be sensible enough to treat the case as a “Level II standard case.” Michigan is under 11 allegations, with six of them categorized as Level I. 

It’s a big mess right now for Sherrone Moore. But things will clear a bit in the coming weeks at a hearing before the Committee on Infractions. For the Wolverines, the next act begins…..

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