In a not-so-shocking development, Arizona State coach Todd Graham admitted Tuesday that he and his staff steal signs from opponents.
Arizona State coach says, yes, his team steals signs, just like everyone else
This is common practice.
Russ Isabella-USA TODAY Sports
ASU's Todd Graham: "Do we steal signals? Yeah, we do. Do people steal our signals? Yeah, (they) do."
— Doug Haller (@DougHaller) November 3, 2015 ASU has been accused of this on numerous occasions, and it became a story again when Oregon offensive coordinator Scott Frost said he’d never seen a team as “diligent” as the Sun Devils on stealing signs.
“Stealing” is probably a bad word for this, because it isn’t illegal to outsmart the other team into figuring out their play calls. Still, it comes up every season. Last year, it was Arkansas worrying that Auburn had “stolen” its signs. One FBS coach said it’s something that’s always out there.
One FBS head coach admits to what's accepted as a routine practice: stationing an assistant coach or graduate assistant to chart every signal shown by the opposing sideline.
"We all attempt to do it by assigning a coach to watch the signals, and occasionally you will be able to pick up something by the end of the game. Most coaches are paranoid and disguise their signals well and change them from year to year and even game to game. But we have some that are very easy to steal to set up a play-action or special play off the look."
Ultimately, it’s pretty hard to communicate everything to the players on the field, anyway, so this is a non-issue. It’s also a non-issue since it isn’t against the rules.
The anti-signal stealers are like kids who think you're invading their privacy when you read something they posted on the Internet.
— Andy Staples (@Andy_Staples) November 3, 2015 See More:
