ATHENS – Michigan football has been in the news this week after reports surfaced that the Wolverines, under coach Jim Harbaugh, routinely dispatch in-person scouts to steal and decipher the signals of future opponents.
Georgia, of course, met the Wolverines in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30, 2021 in a College Football Playoff semifinal matchup. But if Michigan stole any signs in advance of that game, it didn’t help much. The Bulldogs won 34-11 on their way to the first of two straight national championships.
“No, I didn’t notice anything or know anything. Nobody we talked to warned us or anything like that,” coach Kirby Smart said after Georgia’s practice Tuesday. “I think everybody we play, they say … ‘they’re great at stealing your signals.’ But what they’re referencing is different.”
The ethics in this area of the game are decidedly gray. Some coaches or programs believe it’s OK to steal signals within the confines of a game day. That’s evident as teams – including Georgia – deploy staffers to hold up sheets blocking the view of signalers. Generally, there are at least three or four individuals flashing signals onto the field of play to further complicate any attempt to decipher which one is authentic.
But Michigan is alleged to have an entire operation set up in which individuals regularly bought tickets to attend games of future opponents at other stadiums. Once there, those trained scouts would meticulously chart and decode a future opponents’ signals.
Stealing signals during a game is not an NCAA violation. However, in-person scouting of future has been prohibited by NCAA bylaws since 1994, and using recording devices is a violation of another NCAA regulation. Accordingly, the NCAA reportedly is investigating.
Smart is dumbfounded.
“I never heard of anybody going to the games to watch and film and do all that,” Smart said. “All the stuff that’s going on that everybody’s talking about, I don’t know anybody that’s ever done that. I’ve never been asked to do that as a young coach or known anybody to do that. I’ve never heard of that.”
Sonny Smart was a high school coach and Kirby Smart actually accompanied his father on scouting trips to other teams’ games back as a child growing up in Bainbridge. But he said that was never to try to pick up signals. It was about learning personnel and charting a team’s tendencies.
“You went and watched the other team play with four other coaches and draw up their plays while they were doing it,” Kirby Smart said. “That was pre-cellphone and probably pre-signals. They were sending people in (with the play). … As far as in-game, I think people try to do that. It goes on. But, as a signal caller, when I had to call defenses, it just confused me if I had to sit there and listen to somebody tell me what they thought they got called. I’m trying to think about what the best call for the situation is. You’re relying on misinformation or something that’s not very reliable, so I don’t know.”
Credit: Sarah K. Spencer/AJC
Georgia linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson said knowing whether a team was going to pass or run before the ball was snapped “would be huge” for a defense. But he said all the Bulldogs’ scouting comes from watching game video and studying opponents’ tendencies based on personnel and down and distance and excel by knowing what a team does well and who does what. He said they spend zero time trying to decipher the opponents’ calls.
“I don’t think we sign-steal over here,” Dumas-Johnson said. “Our preparation and the coaches doing their job is a big piece in us being successful on defense the last couple of years.”
Smart said he has been advised after the fact that some opponents had their signals.
“If you’re not going to play them again, sometimes they share what they might have had on you and things like that. So, I’ve heard of it in-game,” Smart said. “But, a lot of the time, you can have the signal and still not do it right. It’s kind of the joke. You know what play is coming and you still mess it up. I’ve laughed with coaches about that before.”
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