By MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Morgan Trent was the most successful Wolverine to come out of the 2009 NFL Draft class, playing most of his rookie season as a nickel cornerback for the Cincinnati Bengals.
But his path to getting there was a bit more challenging than he anticipated, according to a book released a few months ago by Rivals.com writer Bobby Deren, as it identified Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez as a factor in Trent slipping down the draft board, getting picks No. 179 overall, in the sixth round.
The book painted a scenario that former U-M coach Lloyd Carr told Trent that Rodriguez bad-mouthed him to NFL scouts before the draft. The story was unattributed, not citing a source.
Rodriguez issued a strong denial Saturday that anything of the sort ever occurred.
“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.”
A Bengals.com story on Friday, which brought the story to light, paraphrased Trent’s current position coach, Kevin Coyle, saying “Coyle heard the rumblings, but he didn’t talk to Rodriguez and put more stock in other people close to the Michigan program that had been there before.”
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.”
Trent responded to the comments to Bengals.com in their story.
“I really like Coach Carr,” he told the website. “He’s been very good to me. I think at first he was wondering, but I let him know it didn’t put him in a bad light. I would never do something like that to Lloyd. He’s great.”
Though he said it was “jarring” to hear it, Trent said: “I guess it was motivation. (I) want to show people it was all false.”
Deren said neither Rodriguez nor Carr was interviewed about the story but Deren spoke highly of Trent to the Free Press. The book was published in February.
“In writing this book, I had the opportunity to get a behind the scenes look into the NFL,” Deren said. “Morgan Trent is everything that’s right in a professional athlete. Morgan Trent is everything right in a human being. And it was a privilege to tell his story.”
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