Memphis football coach Ryan Silverfield weighs in on sign-stealing: 'It occurs constantly'
Memphis football coach Ryan Silverfield on Monday weighed in on a hot-button issue in college football: Sign-stealing.
"It occurs constantly," Silverfield said at his weekly news conference. "There's a lot of teams that you can look over and you can sit there and see guys with notebooks watching what you're doing. Whether they're preparing for the next year, maybe the next game, next time you see them, or they're going in at halftime. And it occurs all the time."
Michigan has been in hot water for an alleged sign-stealing scheme involving a staffer. That staffer, Connor Stalions, has been suspended by the university, and the NCAA has launched an investigation. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has denied any involvement.
Silverfield said there are plenty of ways to see what other teams are doing, but "crossing that line" is a problem.
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"Here's the deal: Anything that crosses the line of cheating, it's unacceptable," he said. "Anytime you cross that line, unfair advantage in between the white lines, I'm against it. Obviously we do things the right away around here. And so there's always that sportsmanship to gamesmanship, but I don't ever believe in crossing that line."
Memphis (6-2, 3-1 American Athletic Conference) is coming off a shootout win over North Texas and hosts South Florida on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+) at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.
Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis football's Ryan Silverfield: Sign-stealing 'occurs constantly'
