According to sources and reported by ESPN, Michigan football has received a notice of allegations from the NCAA related to the investigation into illicit recruiting and coaching during COVID-19 ‘dead period’. Michigan faces four Level II violations, along with a Level I allegation against coach Jim Harbaugh for misleading investigators.
Michigan has 90 days to respond to the notice of allegations, and the NCAA will have 60 additional days thereafter for a rebuttal. Michigan can wait until well after the College Football Playoff to finally address the allegations based on this timeline.
In January, Michigan received a first draft of the NCAA notice, with the program agreeing to several Level II allegations, including texting during the dead period, analysts performing on-field coaching and coaches watching workouts via Zoom during the COVID-19 shutdown. However, Michigan continues to push back on the Level I violation that Harbaugh lied to investigators regarding the incidents. In order to try and get ahead of the NCAA’s punishment, Harbaugh served a self-imposed suspension for three games at the beginning of the season, and also served a separate three-game suspension during the end of the regular season, which was handed down by the Big Ten in response to information the conference received from the NCAA’s findings.
Michigan is also under a separate investigation for coordinated sign-stealing and in-person scouting involving former analyst Connor Stalions.
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