Ex-Ohio State, Michigan player sues CBS, claims Connor Stalions obtained film of Buckeyes practices

A former player of both Michigan and Ohio State has filed a lawsuit against CBS, claiming a report from CBS News Detroit was defamatory. Michigan football has become accustomed to controversy around the program. This past weekend, Michigan got a second chance at a Hail Mary to beat Western Michigan. In years past, there have also been the Sherrone Moore scandal and the Connor Stalions controversy. While the NCAA and Michigan are putting the Stalions situation in the rearview mirror, a former Wolverine and member of Ohio State is bringing it back to the forefront. Former Michigan and Ohio State linebacker Joey Velazquez has filed a defamation lawsuit against CBS. The lawsuit claims that a CBS News Detroit report accused Velazquez of lying to the NCAA and claimed that former Michigan linebackers coach Chris Partridge told him to lie to the NCAA, according to Dan Hope of Eleven Warriors. 'In 2023, Joey tore his hamstring. At the beginning of that football season, Connor Stalions, a staffer with the Michigan football team, approached Joey about assisting with reviewing opponent film to prepare for games. Stalions told Joey that by reviewing game tape, they could decode opponents' plays and help Michigan win. Stalions told Joey he had asked him to help because this was 'just like sign stealing in baseball.' Joey was eager to help his team while rehabbing his hamstring injury. Stalions began teaching Joey his system. Stalions taught Joey how to break down video footage of opponents' sign-callers. Stalions showed Joey how to tell which caller was the real caller for a given play. Stalions directed Joey to input oppenent's plays and signs into a complicated spreadsheet that Stalions maintained and cross-referenced with Stalions's signals database,' The lawsuit read. 'It was obvious that the film that Stalions was using was not broadcast film. So Stalions told Joey about his advance scouting system. Stalions would buy tickets to Michigan's future opponent's games. He then would dispatch a network of in-person scouts to those games. At those games, Stalions's network would film the opponent's sign-callers. Stalions would then collect the sign-caller footage, line it up with the game tape and steal the opponent's signs. Stalions and his network filmed signals at dozens of games. Stalions had even obtained film of Ohio State's open practices through in-person advance scouting. Joey did not know that Stalions's system violated NCAA rules. He thought he was doing whatever he could to help his team win within the rules.' Velazquez is further claiming that it was Stalions who told him to lie to the NCAA, and 'never give up your phone.' After the CBS report, the former linebacker and his family received over 5,000 'unsolicited hate-filled messages including countless death threats.' Both Velazquez and Partridge were ultimately cleared by the NCAA of wrongdoing.