Crimson Tide Wary of Sign Stealing

The college football world is enamored by scandals and rumors. It's the equivalent of gossip in high school, people can't get enough of it. So when it was revealed that the Michigan Wolverines had been stealing signals from opposing teams ahead of time via scouts planted in opposing stadiums, it took the college football world by storm.

The noise surrounding Michigan only continued to get louder after the Wolverines fired the seeming mastermind behind the cheating, Connor Stalions. Further reports from coaches around the country corroborated the claims by the Big 10 teams, with TCU head coach Sonny Dykes even catching wind of the scandal and changing the Horned Frogs signals ahead of their semifinal game against Michigan last season.

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The Crimson Tide appear to be wary of the sign stealing, with Alabama changing the way they watch film according to the players during Thursday's offensive availability.

Wide receiver Isaiah Bond mentioned the change in film study, "The catapult system, I guess they were taking signs off that. They took it down anyway for the playoffs because of that."

Bond expounded on what he meant, "The catapult system is the app we film to record practices and stuff like that, and I guess they were looking at other people's play calls. We're able to watch film as a team, but we can't watch film individually because of Michigan stealing signs."

Offensive lineman Tyler Booker also mentioned a change in the Tide's film study, "We just have to go to a different location to watch the film, but we’re all still watching the film as we would for a normal game."

Signal caller Jalen Milroe also was asked about the sign stealing and Alabama's change in film study, "I watch film all day. That's something that I've done because the biggest thing was to try to be most prepared for all situations in the game. So I'm watching film as much as possible. I can't really speak on that. But for me, I'm preparing as much as possible."

"[iPads are] a key resource, "Milroe said. "That would be great for teams to have, especially seeing in the league how beneficial it is for them using iPads and seeing some things that they missed throughout the game. Because at the end of the day during the game it's more lip service when you're communicating with your coach on the sideline, but to actually see it on the iPad or whatever, that would be really helpful. But that would be great to have for sure."

Alabama hired former Michigan assistant George Helow on December 14, who was a part of the Michigan teams rumored to have been involved in the sign-stealing scandal in 2021 and 2022. Could the hire have been made to help Alabama learn how to avoid sign stealing? Perhaps. Helow was with the Crimson Tide during Thursday's media viewing portion of practice.

Alabama and Michigan will face off in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2024. For continued updates from Pasadena and other Crimson Tide Athletics, follow Tide 100.9.