Former University of Michigan football player leaked unauthorized materials, lied to NCAA, source says

By Gino Vicci

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    MICHIGAN (WWJ) — The University of Michigan football team kicked off its season Saturday with a 34-17 win over the New Mexico Lobos, nearly two weeks after the NCAA imposed hefty fines against the school for the sign-stealing controversy. Immediately after the ruling was handed down, the University of Michigan announced it would appeal the decision.

In its 79-page report of the ruling regarding sign-stealing, the NCAA revealed that “some of the witness’ statements are not as credible as others.” However, a source told CBS News Detroit that the witness, who is a student-athlete, lied about his claim that former linebackers coach Chris Partridge asked players not to cooperate with investigators. Partridge was fired in November 2023, just weeks after an NCAA investigation began; however, Partridge was not penalized by the NCAA following the conclusion of its investigation.

The NCAA report also stated that a student-athlete recorded a phone call with Connor Stalions, the centerpiece of the investigation, who received an eight-year show-cause penalty from the NCAA. Additionally, the NCAA revealed that a campus source at Michigan provided material information to an unnamed private investigation firm.

CBS News Detroit has been provided information from a private investigator that shows that the student-athlete who lied to the NCAA about Partridge is the same student-athlete who recorded a phone call with Stalions without his consent. The private investigator also informed CBS News Detroit that the student-athlete and the campus source are the same individual, who is a former player on the team.

The private investigator presented evidence that the same student-athlete who lied to the NCAA regarding Partridge – and who recorded a phone call with Stalions – took videos from the former Michigan staffer’s personal computer in an unauthorized manner, and handed the videos over to the unnamed private investigation firm, which turned them over to the NCAA within 24 hours to start the NCAA investigation.

A Dearborn, Michigan, attorney who has been following the developments closely said he believes Michigan could win its appeal in state court.

“It’s been alleged there has been some evidence that was illegally obtained in this matter … that does matter in state court,” said Odey K. Meroueh, an attorney at Meroueh & Hallman LLP.

Meroueh said that how evidence is obtained would matter in state court, as in due process.

“The NCAA administrative body makes its own rules while in state court… the difference is that the state and the judge make the rules,” Meroueh explained.

Meroueh said he believed that an appeal in state court would result in a much different outcome based on new information and the possibility that evidence was obtained illegally.

“With the NCAA, they might not care where the evidence is coming from. They don’t have rules against that, but in the actual state court, similar to a criminal trial, when there’s evidence that’s obtained illegally, it’s called fruit from the poisonous tree… and in that case, anything obtained from that evidence is deemed inadmissible, which would render the case against Michigan dismissed,” Meroueh added.

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