Give Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti credit for this: He will advocate for what he believes is best for one of the league’s teams. That’s true even if that same program previously unleashed an avalanche of headline-grabbing public accusations and animosity on him.

In this case, it’s Michigan football, which at the height of the 2023 advanced scouting/sign-stealing scandal hit Petitti with a blistering legal filing, claims of personal bias and choruses of boos and negative social media posts from fans.

Regardless, Petitti has sent a letter to the NCAA Committee on Infractions arguing that Michigan deserved no further punishment in a case focusing on the actions of former staffer Connor Stalions.

The letter was read at an early June infractions committee hearing in Indianapolis, multiple sources told ESPN. The NCAA has charged Michigan with 11 rule violations, six of them Level 1, which is classified as the most serious. The committee has yet to hand down a ruling, but one is expected before the 2025 season. It does not have to follow or even consider Petitti’s opinion.

The Big Ten confirmed to ESPN that Petitti sent the letter and said he would have attended in person but was recovering at the time from hip replacement surgery. The NCAA and Michigan are prohibited from commenting on a pending case. Petitti declined comment through a league spokesperson.

Petitti argued, sources said, that the Big Ten itself had already sufficiently punished the Michigan program when it suspended then-coach Jim Harbaugh for the final three games of the 2023 regular season: at Penn State, at Maryland and at home against Ohio State.

Even without Harbaugh, Michigan won all three en route to capturing the national championship.

The NCAA might still hit the Wolverines with penalties ranging from vacating past victories, a postseason ban, the suspension of coaches, a monetary fine or other measures.

Michigan, as ESPN previously reported, has proposed suspending current coach Sherrone Moore for the third and fourth game of the 2025 season for deleting a thread of text messages with Stalions as the scandal broke. Moore was the team’s offensive coordinator at the time. The NCAA was able to retrieve the texts, and Moore was not charged with having any knowledge of Stalions’ actions.

The NCAA could also punish individuals, including Harbaugh (now the coach of the Los Angeles Chargers), Stalions and others. Petitti’s letter did not address that, according to sources.

The concept of a league commissioner standing up for one of his conference’s teams is not unusual. The business of any conference is aided by its programs avoiding NCAA sanctions that might affect its ability to field competitive teams.

Petitti’s position is notable in this situation because of the extremely contentious relationship between him and Michigan when allegations first broke of Stalions sending friends and family to scout future Wolverine opponents and film sideline coaching signals.

Petitti, in a Nov. 10, 2023, letter to Michigan athletics director Warde Manual, laid out the Harbaugh suspension by arguing that “the integrity of competition is the backbone of any sports conference or league.” He noted that “taking immediate action is appropriate and necessary.”

Michigan, to put it lightly, disagreed.

The school vehemently fought back, arguing that due process had not been followed, the case lacked conclusive evidence, and there was no proof that Harbaugh had knowledge of Stalions’ activities.

The university even sought an emergency temporary restraining order in Washtenaw (Michigan) County Court against the Big Ten to let Harbaugh keep coaching.

In a fiery court filing, the school claimed the Big Ten’s actions “were fraudulent, unlawful, unethical, unjustified, and per se wrongful, and were done with malice.” It further claimed the league was causing irreparable damage to the reputations of Harbaugh and the university, declaring the suspension a “flagrant breach of fundamental fairness.”

The school eventually backed down and withdrew the restraining order request, but the rift between the team and the commissioner remained as Harbaugh was benched.

The suspension became a rallying cry for Michigan players as they continued their 15-0 season. Petitti chose to not attend the Ohio State-Michigan game in Ann Arbor that season, even though it was one of the biggest games in league history. The Big Ten said Petitti was never scheduled to attend the game.

A week later, at the Big Ten title game, Michigan fans lustily booed Petitti when he presented the championship trophy to injured Wolverines player Zak Zinter (notably, not Harbaugh, despite having completed his suspension by then).

All of that appears to be behind the commissioner. To Petitti, making Michigan overcome a three-game stretch without its head coach was apparently enough of a penalty. He noted in his initial 2023 decision that the suspension was not about Harbaugh but was a way to hit the program as a whole.

“We impose this disciplinary action even though the Conference has not yet received any information indicating that Head Football Coach Harbaugh was aware of the impermissible nature of the sign-stealing scheme,” Petitti wrote. “This is not a sanction of Coach Harbaugh. It is a sanction against the University.”

He also allowed that “additional disciplinary actions may be necessary or appropriate if [the NCAA or Big Ten] receives additional information concerning the scope and knowledge of, or participation in, the impermissible scheme.”

That Petitti is now suggesting that Michigan has paid its penance suggests no such additional information has emerged.

Apparently, bygones are now bygones, even B1G ones.

A federal judge in Ohio has dismissed a lawsuit seeking compensation for thousands of former Ohio State athletes from the NCAA.

In her ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge Sarah Morrison said former Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor filed his proposed class action against the NCAA, Ohio State, the Big Ten and others too late.

Pryor, who played for Ohio State from 2008 to ’10, sued the NCAA and other defendants in October, accusing them of violating antitrust law by barring members of the school’s sports teams from seeking to profit from the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses.

Plaintiffs generally face a four-year window to bring claims under U.S. antitrust law.

“Mr. Pryor knew the material facts underlying his antitrust claims long before the four-year limitations period had run,” Morrison said.

The NCAA in a statement welcomed the judge’s ruling and said “we are hopeful that additional copycat cases will see the same outcome.”

Ohio State and attorneys for the plaintiff did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pryor said in the lawsuit that the NCAA and others have continued to make money from the use of his name, image and likeness through videos and other broadcasts.

Former USC running back Reggie Bush filed a similar lawsuit against the university, the NCAA and the Pac-12 in September, as a number of former Michigan stars against the NCAA and Big Ten.

Morrison ruled that Ohio State as a public school and arm of the state was immune from the lawsuit.

The NCAA this year revamped its rules over compensation for college athletes, agreeing for the first time to allow schools to pay students directly.

As part of the landmark settlement, the organization agreed to pay $2.8 billion to compensate thousands of current and former athletes since 2016 for the commercial use of their names, images and likenesses.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Days after landing No. 1 outside linebacker Tyler Atkinson, Texas secured its latest five-star addition Sunday when coveted rusher Derrek Cooper, ESPN’s No. 1 running back in the 2026 class, announced his commitment to the Longhorns.

Cooper, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound recruit from Chaminade-Madonna Preparatory School in Hollywood, Florida, is the seventh-ranked prospect in the 2026 ESPN 300. After an unofficial trip to Texas in April, Cooper did not officially visit the program before choosing the Longhorns over finalists Florida State, Georgia, Miami and Ohio State on Sunday night.

Cooper’s father told ESPN that the presence of Longhorns running back coach Chad Scott, who replaced former assistant Tashard Choice in February, and the all-purpose role Texas coach Steve Sarkisian laid out for Cooper in the program’s offense were leading factors in his son’s decision.

“They’ve talked about his skill set and compared his build to [former UT running back] Bijan Robinson,” Corey Cooper told ESPN. “They don’t have a running back like Derrek right now. They feel like they can do a lot with him.”

Derrek Cooper is the fourth five-star pledge in the Longhorns’ 2026 class and continues a summer recruiting tear for the Longhorns, who have added 10 ESPN 300 commits since June 1.

Cooper’s commitment comes days after Texas edged Georgia for the pledge of Atkinson — No. 14 in the 2026 ESPN 300 and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Georgia — then flipped four-star Bulldogs defensive line commit James Johnson (No. 123 overall) later in the day.

Cooper is the second-highest ranked of six top-100 recruits committed to Sarkisian’s incoming class, joining Atkinson, fellow five-star pledges Dia Bell (No. 4) and Richard Wesley (No. 11), and four-stars John Turntine III (No. 43) and Samari Matthews (No. 99).

A gifted two-way star at Chaminade-Madonna Prep, Cooper trails only fellow Texas pledge Bell — ESPN’s No. 1 quarterback in 2026 — as the second-ranked recruit in Florida this cycle.

Cooper was credited with 124 carries for 905 yards and 13 touchdowns as a junior last fall while leading Chaminade-Madonna Prep to a 1A state championship. In 2024, he added 46 total tackles and four sacks on defense, where he was a linebacker and safety.

Cooper will join a potentially crowded running back group next year with as many as five current Texas rushers eligible to return in 2026. However, with elite pass-catching ability out of the backfield, Cooper’s versatility could create early opportunities in a Longhorns offense that has routinely found clever ways to use skill position talents under Sarkisian.

“He wants to run, he wants to be able to catch the ball out of the backfield, he wants to line up at wide receiver,” Cooper’s father said. “He wants to show he has all the skills to play at the next level, and they’re going to let him do that at Texas.”

Upon Cooper’s pledge, defensive end Jake Kreul (No. 22 overall) stands as the last uncommitted player among ESPN’s 23 five-star prospects in 2026. Savion Hiter and Davian Groce, ESPN’s No. 2 and No. 4 running back prospects, respectively, are the only uncommitted running backs in the 2026 ESPN 300.