The story behind Connor Stalions connections to Tennessee football, South Carolina

It was four years ago that Tennessee football suffered an infamous loss at South Carolina, one that derailed the program's best shot at a national championship this century.

That game lived in the imaginations of Vols fans well after their team lost 63-38 to the Gamecocks on Nov. 19, 2022 because of the sign-stealing scandal at Michigan, which was revealed in the following years to have connections to Tennessee and South Carolina.

Though he denied the allegations, some fans floated a conspiracy theory that notorious sign-stealer Connor Stalions helped South Carolina spring the upset so that Michigan could avoid facing the sport's No. 1 offense in the playoff later that year.

The No. 11 Vols (6-1, 3-1 SEC) visit Williams-Brice Stadium to play South Carolina (3-3, 1-3) for the first time since that upset on Oct. 24 (3:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)

Connor Stalions denied scouting Tennessee or sharing intel with SEC opponents

On Aug. 15, 2025, the NCAA Committee on Infractions released findings and penalties in the Michigan sign-stealing case. It included four years of probation for the Wolverines' football program, an eight-year show-cause order for Stalions, a former staff member, and a 10-year show-cause for coach Jim Harbaugh among other sanctions.

Clayton White, who worked under Harbaugh at Stanford in from 2007-09, was in his second season as South Carolina defensive coordinator in 2022. Fans believed he was believed to be the key link between the Wolverines and Gamecocks, but Stalions said he never had any connection with South Carolina.

"Oh my gosh. (That is) one of the dozens of conspiracies that are out there," Stalions said on "Bunch Formation," a podcast released on Sept. 4, 2025. "I've never met anyone at South Carolina. … There was no trying to screw over Tennessee."

Stalions said he "never watched any Tennessee film," but added that if he did have the Vols' signals, he would have used it against them instead of letting another team use the intel.

"If I had everything on Tennessee … In theory, it could be Tennessee or anyone, if I had the team's signals and felt confident that it's this competitive advantage that's going to cause an advantage like in that South Carolina game, why would I want another team to do it rather than us?" Stalions said.

Stalions said he only connected with an SEC team once, before Michigan played Alabama in the Citrus Bowl at the end of the 2019 season. Stalions traded a rival Big Ten school's signals for Alabama's with another team from the SEC. Alabama beat Michigan 35-16 in that Citrus Bowl. Stalions did not identify the SEC team he traded intel with.

Conor Stalions did scout Tennessee in 2022, according to NCAA investigators

Stalions may not have given Tennessee's signals to the Gamecocks in 2022, but he did arrange for in-person scouting of the Vols at a game that season, NCAA investigators found.

As a Michigan football staffer, he bought a ticket to Tennessee's game vs. Kentucky at Neyland Stadium on Oct. 29, 2022. It was part of an advanced scouting operation organized by Stalions that covered at least 58 games from 2021-23.

The seat Stalions bought had a view of the Tennessee sideline and the coaching staff's signals. He transferred it to someone else who used it for the game, violating multiple long-standing NCAA rules against in-person scouting of an opponent's game and using recording devices.

Tennessee beat Kentucky 44-6 and was ranked No. 1 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings three days later. Three weeks later, the Vols lost to South Carolina and fell out of contention for a playoff bid.

Having the signals that orchestrated the Vols' up-tempo offense would have been a massive advantage for any opponent, coach Josh Heupel said in 2023, when news that Stalions had organized scouting of Tennessee the year prior broke.

"(Sign stealing) has the ability as (an opposing) play-caller to change what they're calling," Heupel said. "It's not that you're going to go execute that call perfectly. But it may give you an advantage as far as what structure you might be playing in any phase of the football game."

But Michigan never had an opportunity to use them against the Vols because of South Carolina's upset in 2022.

Stephen Thompson covers Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball. Email him at stephen.thompson@knoxnews.com and follow him on X @stephenethom.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: The story behind Connor Stalions connections to Tennessee football, South Carolina