ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan football’s senior leadership says the team is ready to turn the page to a new season after recently learning its fate in the NCAA sign-stealing case.
The Wolverines received four years of probation, hefty fines, recruiting restrictions and a three-game suspension for head coach Sherrone Moore after evidence pointed to an impermissible scouting scheme from 2021 to 2023.
Former head coach Jim Harbaugh received a 10-year show-cause penalty as a result, while the staffer at the center of the controversy, Connor Stalions, received an eight-year show-cause ban. Michigan says it’s appealing the ruling.
“We take pride here,” senior fullback Max Bredeson, one of six players voted captain on Thursday. “I feel like Michigan’s all about whatever happens, we’re always ready to play football. That’s kind of the focal point, pillars you could say, of (the program).”
While vacating wins, Big Ten titles or Michigan’s 2023 national championship were never on the table, a 74-page report issued by the NCAA found Michigan eligible for a multi-year postseason ban.
Instead, the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions determinedthat a two-year ban would unfairly punish the student-athletes on the team currently and elected to levy a monetary fine, one that will garnish Michigan’s postseason revenue for the next two seasons and could top tens of millions of dollars.
“Whoever needs to be dealing with that stuff, they’ll deal with that,” senior tight end Marlin Klein said. “I’m not going to be worried about it. I’m just focused on next Saturday and playing ball.”
Michigan Wolverines tight end Eli Owens (45) tight end Max Bredeson and tight end Deakon Tonielli (43) during Michigan football’s Spring Game at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor on Saturday, April 19 2025.Chloe Miller | MLive.com
While the Michigan locker room seemed unfazed by it all, every player asked about the punishment praised Moore, the head coach who’s set to miss the Sept. 13 non-conference game against Central Michigan and Sept. 20 Big Ten opener at Nebraska. He’ll also have to sit out one game in 2026.
The suspension marks Moore’s second run-in with the NCAA, after serving a one-game ban in 2023 for recruiting violations.
“We talked to coach Moore about it as a team,” senior edge rusher Derrick Moore said. “He pretty much just said to let the outside noise be the outside noise.”
Senior offensive lineman Giovanni El-Hadi echoed that sentiment, chuckling as he said Michigan had grown “familiar with” NCAA sanctions. Just last year, the Wolverines and Harbaugh were penalized for pandemic-era recruiting violations that netted probation for the program and a show-cause penalty for Harbaugh.
“What’s going on in here, that’s what matters here now,” El-Hadi said.
Last week, Michigan assistant coaches touted a “sturdy and strong” football program and “resilient” roster, one that “didn’t bat an eyelash” when news broke last Friday of the sanctions.
“Once they knew that this year they could go and chase every dream that they had, our guys were good,” linebackers coach Brian Jean-Mary said. “They were ready to rock and roll and go practice.”
As for not having their coach on the sideline for two games this fall, it’s a fact of life some of the older players are used to dealing with. It was just two years ago, in 2023, when Harbaugh served a pair of three-game suspensions, missing a total of six games as the Wolverines marched toward a national title.
“I love coach Moore,” Bredeson said. “Electric. Always good to have on the sideline, but I told hm (this) too — I’ve never played a snap with him.
“I’m ready to play.”
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