J.J. McCarthy clarifies his '80 percent' comment regarding sign stealing across CFB

Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy on Thursday clarified some remarks he made on Wednesday about sign-stealing and trying to catch up to the competition, saying that he was not implying the Wolverines went around the rules to make up ground.

He had also said on Wednesday that he suspects around 80 percent of college football programs engage in legal sign stealing, an assessment that he did not back down from. McCarthy, who was asked about the subject on Wednesday on a conference call with reporters, singled out rival Ohio State and said that the Wolverines suspected their signs were known on the opposite sideline in 2019-20.

He stated that “we had get up to the level that they were at, and we had to make it an even playing field” which many took as an admission that players and coaches at Michigan knew about the impermissible scouting done by former staffer Connor Stalions to steal signs.

“The clarification comes along with when I said we’re trying to level the playing field. It’s not in terms of how we steal signs or anything remotely close to that. It’s just about how we protect our signs, how we camouflage our signs. You know, we were one of the first teams to put the big black sheet in front of our boards, so teams can’t see it from watching film on us. It’s just leveling the playing field and protecting our signs, and disguising our signs to help us have that advantage,” McCarthy said to ESPN’s Marty Smith on Thursday.

And the Michigan quarterback stood by his estimation that most teams have stolen or decoded the signs of the opposition, even raising his estimate.

It’s not an uncommon practice in college football, something McCarthy’s teammates reminded him of.

“You know, that was a low number to be honest with you. I asked some of my teammates and I was like, ‘Is that crazy to say?’ and they’re like, ‘Yeah, because I think it’s 90-95 percent.’ So that’s where it comes from, just hearing it through the grapevine from the coaches that have been here and go somewhere else, little stuff like that,” McCarthy said.

In his original remarks, he actually said he was trying to be a bit conservative with his estimate.

“I also feel like it’s so unfortunate because, you know, there’s probably, I don’t want to say a crazy number, but I’d say a good number, 80% of teams in college football steal signs,” McCarthy said on Wednesday. “It’s just a thing about football. You know, it’s been around for years.”