Arkansas coach says sign stealing is common in college football

Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams had some fascinating comments on sign stealing in college football.

As the college football world continues to wait and see if the NCAA punishes the University of Michigan for an alleged sign-stealing scandal, many people have weighed in on both sides of the argument, either saying the Wolverines were stealing signs and should be punished, or that sign stealing is a part of football and if they punish Michigan they should punish other teams for doing it as well.

Arkansas defensive coordinator Travis Williams was asked about teams scouting signals and learning signals before the game, and he provided a lengthy response about how rampant it is in college football.

While this could be used to argue in Michigan’s defense of what former staffer Conor Stalions allegedly did, this reads to me more like scouting during the week of signals. What Williams was talking about with using the TV copy to look at teams’ signals throughout the week is common throughout football, and also different from what Stalions is accused of doing. What Stalions allegedly did was go to stadiums under the guise of a fan from an opposing team or even as a coach and record the games without permission, or even allegedly showing up on the sideline as a staffer for an opposing team to get closer and learn the signals. What Williams is saying is basic football stuff; what Stalions is accused of doing is less scouting and more Hitman 3 levels of disguise.

The NCAA still hasn’t concluded their investigation into the alleged sign stealing at Michigan, and according to On3’s Andy Staples, the result might not be what people think. “This could take a while. I don’t know what they’re going to find. The person I talked to seems to think the NCAA might not find what it thinks it’s going to find,” Staples said.

Regardless of what happens in the eventual verdict, we’ll know for sure what is and isn’t legal sign stealing.