The Connor Stalions documentary, explained

High octane sport, cheating scandals, and a big Netflix budget: Sign Stealer has it all. The new documentary from the streaming giant tells the story of Connor Stalions, the man who became a key figure in a huge football scandal at the University of Michigan. At the heart of the documentary is the accusation that Stalions was involved in “sign stealing,” which means illegally learning about your opponent’s hand signals when calling a play to gain an advantage.

The Netflix documentary, which runs at just under an hour and a half, is the first time that Stalions has spoken out since the scandal broke late last year. At the time, Stalions was nothing more than a UMich recruiting staffer, and his alleged activities have cast a huge shadow over the national championship that Michigan claimed last year — their first since the Clinton administration.

Stalions, for his part, has constantly claimed innocence, although in a way that many would take umbrage with. In the documentary, he’s quoted as saying: “I don’t always break the rules; in fact, I’d argue I don’t break the rules. I just walk a very fine line in the gray…I don’t break the rules — I exploit them.”

Although the cheating scandal is at the heart of the documentary, it also touches upon a number of other themes and topics, including the pressures of college football in general. It is also very clear to not link anyone higher up in the Michigan football program (like coaches) to the illegal sign stealing scheme, something we’re sure Netflix’s legal team had a say in.

The story was an immediate sensation when it broke, creating a raft of memes, hot takes, and TikToks that are resurfacing with the release of the documentary, which is reframing the story as almost a piece of true crime content. The production was produced after hours of talks between Stalions and the production team, and also features interviews with other people in the know and those connected to the college football milieu, including the founder of Barstool Sports Dave Portnoy, who also attended the University of Michigan. Other famous faces include UMich linebacker Michael Barrett, and a number of prominent journalists who brought the story to public attention.

Stalions comes off as a company man, desperate to do anything to ensure his team wins. There are many mentions of being a “Michigan Man,” something he seems to take a lot of pride in. The triumphant feeling that came along with UMich eventual winning of the title is also palpable throughout.

A number of important happenings in the scandal are covered in depth, including one event where an unidentified bearded man was seen on the sidelines of the game between Central Michigan and Michigan State, which many believed to be Stalions. He claims he doesn’t remember that game, but Portnoy is convinced it was Stalions.

Also delved into is how Stalions constantly went to opponent’s games to check out their signals, and how he allegedly received a much coveted game ball for the Wolverines’ victory over Iowa in 2022, which he claims was for “deciphering signales.”

While the documentary is well pieced together, there are times you can tell it’s very fresh. After all, the NCAA has only just issued a formal notice of allegations against UMich, and the final consequences of what happened are far from being unfurled. While Stalions is forthcoming in many ways, the fact is that he is the only one who knows just how deep the conspiracy goes.

Stalions and his legal team also infer that he was the victim of some illegal behavior, like the hacking of his personal communications to illegally obtain incriminating information. It is alleged that a firm of private investigators developed a source in the University of Michigan football program that granted them access to sensitive information they needed to build their case. The NCAA has not responded to this accusation.

In terms of production value and quality, this is very much a Netflix documentary, so there’s plenty of great shots. Supervising producer Matt Maxson was heavily involved in the popular The Last Dance, and it’s easy to tell he helped to form the story and how it was told, in the style of a true crime, spy thriller.

Stalions is currently working as an assistant coach at a high school in Detroit, as shown in the documentary. With college football season just around the corner, there couldn’t be a better time to launch the project.