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Michigan football found itself under scrutiny yet again on Wednesday when quarterback J.J. McCarthy responded to a question in a national championship game teleconference about how the sign-stealing allegations have taken away from the players’ accomplishments.
“Yeah, and I also feel like it’s so unfortunate because there’s probably — I don’t want to say a crazy number, but I’d say a good number, 80% of the teams in college football steal signs. It’s just a thing about football. It’s been around for years,” McCarthy said. “We actually had to adapt because in 2020 or 2019 when Ohio State was stealing our signs, which is legal and they were doing it, we had to get up to the level that they were at, and we had to make it an even playing field.”
Some rival fans and sites ran with their own interpretation, indicating that they believed he was confirming the worst of the allegations, that Michigan had to ‘cheat’ in order to level the playing field and everyone was in on it.
Only, it turns out that’s not what he meant at all.
ESPN’s Marty Smith spoke to McCarthy later in the day and the Michigan quarterback clarified, no, it was about concealing their own signals, not stealing other teams’ that he was referring to.
After Michigan practice Wednesday, JJ McCarthy walked into the Schembechler facility lobby to chat with me personally, to clarify his sign-stealing comments from earlier in the day. He told me “it’s about leveling the playing field,” and how Michigan is “forced to disguise and…
— Marty Smith (@MartySmithESPN) January 4, 2024
After Michigan practice Wednesday, JJ McCarthy walked into the Schembechler facility lobby to chat with me personally, to clarify his sign-stealing comments from earlier in the day. He told me “it’s about leveling the playing field,” and how…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/j-j-mccarthy-clarifies-espn-035313802.html
Author : Wolverines Wire
Publish date : 2024-01-04 03:53:13
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