Monday, May 10, 2010

Michigan Monday: Trent Said - RR Said - Carr Said

It wouldn't be a Monday if the Michigan coaches didn't have to respond to some type of controversy.  The latest comes from a book by Rivals.com writer Bobby Deren that states Morgan Trent slipped in the NFL draft because Rich Rodriguez had bad mouthed him to NFL Scouts.

Here is the excerpt from a Detroit newspaper (warning! for those that are Freep-less): 
In the book, “Draft Season: Four Months on the Clock” Deren follows Trent and three other draft prospects. The most controversial part came at the end of the book.

“Shortly after the draft, Morgan made good on his promise to pay his former head coach (Lloyd Carr) a visit. Morgan was always happy to see Coach Carr and gave him a warm greeting. However, it didn’t take long for Coach Carr to get to the main reason why he wanted to see Morgan. It was there that Coach Carr told Morgan why he wasn’t drafted until the sixth round.

“Apparently, current Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez had cost Morgan quite a bit of money. Rodriguez had bad-mouthed Morgan to every NFL scout he could. Rodriguez claimed that Morgan was lazy, he had an attitude problem and he was a big reason why the Wolverines finished with a 3-9 record, the worst in school history. In essence, an entire draft season and an entire college career of hard work were decimated by a few petty words. Those words may have meant the difference between a $1.86 million deal and a $2.86 million deal. It may have meant the difference between the sixth round and the third round.”

Of course Rich Rod gave a strong denial:
“The comments attributed to me are inaccurate and absolutely ridiculous,” Rodriguez said in a statement. “I said just the opposite about Morgan Trent to NFL scouts and wish him well with the Bengals.”
The book doesn't give a source to where RR's negative comments came from and the Bengals said they didn't talk to Rodriguez. 

Here is my take:
  • Morgan Trent's junior and senior year was his strongest at cornerback for Michigan.  Which in my opinion weren't very strong at all.  He was pretty much known as a fast corner not a cover guy.
  • I never heard Morgan was rated to be a 3rd round prospect.  I always heard his grade was a late round to not drafted at all. 
  • I don't see any reason for RR to bad mouth Trent to NFL scouts.  If his players get drafted it helps with recruiting. 
  • I know Lloyd is respected in the football communities, but he had Trent for 3 years vs 1 with RR. Wouldn't the scouts take his opinion over RR's?  Are Scouts really calling Lloyd to gossip on his former players?  Hey, guess what Rodriguez said about Morgan? Since the author didn't give a source maybe he confused ARod with RRod?
  • I'm happy Trent has found a home in Cincinnati and that he got a lot of time during his rookie year, but this seems silly and pretty far fetched.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Morgan Trent was freaking terrible his senior year. I was watching a game once and the announcers called him a shut down corner... Beer came shooting out of my nose.

Trent gets beat more than a 14 year old looking at his first Playboy.

Good riddance.

Carr's grumpy attitude is going to ruin his legacy. Carr's politics influenced not getting Les Miles and now Carr is trying to hurt RR... but all Carr is really doing is hurting the school he supposedly loves.