Morgan Trent

He was released on waivers by the Jags (?) recently.  Apparently the Redskins are showing some love. 

Skins have been doing a lot of restructuring lately with the pick-ups of multiple young quarterbacks, etc.  Hopefully they have a spot picked out for Trent.

http://www.wboc.com/story/18720940/redskins-claim-cb-morgan

http://twitter.com/#!/joereedy/statuses/131743898916765696

Morgan Trent was waived to make room for Cedric Benson coming off his one game suspension.

Not a big fan of the guy, but Morgan Trent had a big day for the Bungles with 3 picks, 2 tackles.

Brandon Graham also showed up tonight with his first sack (yea, it's preseason, but I'm sure it was a big moment for him) as well as another TFL.

ESPN Box Score  Honorable mention: Avant 1 catch, Leon Hall and Dhani Jones w/ 2 tackles each.

Bobby Deren, a senior writer for the Rivals Rutgers site, scarletnation.com has published Draft Season: Four Months on the Clock in which he chronicles the experiences of Morgan Trent, Kenny McKinley, Frantz Joseph and Lydon Murtha as they prepared for the 2009 draft.

This bengals.com story reports that Draft Season contains some sharp allegations about RichRod's evaluation of Trent in his communications with NFL scouts.

At the end of the book, Deren describes the scene with Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan head coach that recruited him to Ann Arbor, breaking the news to Trent that current head coach Rich Rodriguez did him no favors.

“Rodriguez had bad-mouthed him to every NFL scout he could,” Deren writes. “Rodriguez claimed that Morgan was lazy, he had an attitude problem and he was a big reason the Wolverines finished with a 3-9 record…”

Trent admits the words were “jarring,” and they were hard to understand given that he was so serious about his career that he actually moved in with his brother and sister-in-law and their two small children while going to Michigan.

...

[Bengals defensive backs coach Kevin] 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.

“When there is a coaching transition and the team ends up not having success, you have to step back and try to decipher what the truth really is,” Coyle says. “There was a lot of heat on those people and there was some pointing of blame. Plus, the players were somewhat chagrined, so you had to look at everything.”

Presumably this information has played a part in Trent's willingness to speak negatively about RichRod and the Michigan football program.

Predictably, to date this story has only been picked up by the Freep (print version link).

"* Michigan CB Morgan Trent struggled in coverage during one on one drills which won't help him since scouts were down on him headed into these practices anyway."

*sigh*

http://blogs.chron.com/fantasyfootball/2009/01/shrine_bowl_practice_note...

Michigan's lineup has fluctuated throughout the year, and I expect that it will continue to change until Michigan plays with more consistency - which may not happen until 2009.  Note: Only players who have a viable backup will be chosen to lose their jobs. For example, Threet likely will not be chosen because Sheridan has been a complete disaster.

OFFENSIVE STARTER WHO SHOULD KEEP HIS JOB
Greg Mathews, WR.  I choose Mathews because...well...he's not horrible, despite an unnecessary unnecessary roughness call in the second half of Saturday's game.

OFFENSIVE STARTER WHO SHOULD LOSE HIS JOB
Tie: Sam McGuffie, RB and Toney Clemons, WR.  Before all the McGuffie lovers get their panties in a bunch, I think McGuffie should still be a starter - at slot receiver.  With Martavious Odoms out with an injury and Terrence Robinson seemingly headed for a redshirt, a shakeup is necessary.  Odoms has consistently been able to find soft spots in the defense from the slot position.  McGuffie has similar size and moves and would benefit from being put out into open space.  He has also shown good hands (zero drops this season) and the ability to make people miss.  When Odoms returns from his shoulder injury (presumably next week), he could move into the starting Y receiver position, forming a trio of Mathews, Odoms, and McGuffie as wide receivers.  Toney Clemons dropped two catchable balls on Saturday that led to two interceptions; on top of that, he doesn't have the speed or elusiveness to be effective in the slot.  Moving McGuffie to the slot would allow Brandon Minor (who either scores a TD or fumbles on every touch), Carlos Brown (when he returns from injury), Michael Shaw, and Kevin Grady to get touches out of the backfield.  McGuffie might be our best option at RB, but the backup RB's aren't nearly as bad as the backup slot receivers.

DEFENSIVE STARTER WHO SHOULD KEEP HIS JOB
Brandon Harrison, SS.  Harrison has been Michigan's most reliable defensive back in 2008.  And while no one seemed to play particularly well against Toledo, Harrison was a solid tackler and didn't get beaten in the passing game.  With the lack of push from the defensive line, the linebackers' inconsistency, and the cornerbacks' continued softness, there's not a lot to be excited about at this point.  But when I see #27 flash into the picture, I always feel somewhat relieved that he's going to make a solid tackle or use his sprinter's speed to chase someone down.

DEFENSIVE STARTER WHO SHOULD LOSE HIS JOB
Morgan Trent, CB.  I don't understand Morgan Trent's regression.  He had a promising season a year ago.  He supposedly put on a Barwis-fed 10 pounds and got faster.  He hits people hard.  But he continues to play really soft in coverage and he's been putting his shoulder into ballcarriers instead of wrapping them up and taking them to the ground.  The soft coverage could very well be a scheme of Scott Shafer's or it could be because Trent doesn't trust his safety help.  Either way, it's not working.  Boubacar Cissoko needs to teach Trent how to play physically.  Until Trent steps up his game, Cissoko and Donovan Warren (assuming he returns from injury next week) should be the starting corners.  Maybe a one-game benching would catch Trent's attention.