Former Michigan cornerback Morgan Trent has been known to open his mouth in the past. He was one of the former players to pile on Rich Rodriguez during the practicegate saga, and in a book he was part of a story that alleged Rodriguez trashed Trent to NFL scouts. All he did was hurt the image of the Michigan football program, and he certainly did Rodriguez no favors (by design).
Now with Brady Hoke leading the Wolverines, Trent likes the direction the program is headed in. In fact, he likes the direction so much that he went on the radio last Friday and declared Michigan a "real program" again. Also, he discounted Michigan State's wins over the Wolverines the last few years and gave the Spartans some early bulletin board material for the 2011 edition of the rivalry.
"I think it's supposed to be a big deal, in-state rivalry, but the problem is, we don't really take them seriously," Trent said. "Yeah, you beat us the last couple years, but who hasn't beat us? Big whoop. Yes, they did beat us the last few years and that's great for them. But beat us when we have a real program, which we will now that Brady Hoke is here."
Trent's thinking is that because Michigan was so bad, MSU's wins in the rivalry don't mean anything. The problem with that thinking is a lot of Michigan's wins in this rivalry came against some bad MSU teams, especially in the John L. Smith and Bobby Williams era. Should they be discounted as well? As a Michigan fan, it doesn't feel any better watching your team lose to MSU just because your program has been down, so I think Trent needs to think about what he said.
Somebody who has certainly thought about Trent's comments is Michigan State defensive tackle Jerel Worthy. He went on Twitter on Monday to sound off on what Trent had to say, and he didn't hold back one bit.
Who the hell is MORGAN TRENT And what is weak as doing now He setting them boys up down the road for another ass whoopin #spartanpride #easy
All I know is he running his mouth way too much. Check the past few games even his last year. His program the one that nobody worries about
Not mich st. His weak ass talking mess like he reavis or somebody. Man he need to go sit his self down somewhere
Spartan nation its grind time. Time to go work on something that gets me better. Road to another btc ring. I'll tweet pic it so UofM knows what its like to win something.
Worthy continued with more tweets talking smack at Michigan, including one that came with a picture of his Big Ten championship ring. I think it's safe to say the tweets will be going up on Michigan's bulletin board, just as Trent's comments are probably already up on MSU's. In that regard, Worthy probably should have reconsidered posting these tweets, but some of his comments are valid, namely this one: "I'm tired of ppl using rich rod as a excuse."
As a fan that sat in the stands for each of Michigan's losses to MSU during the Rich Rodriguez era, it doesn't sting any less because the coach was someone who has since been fired. Do I hope that Brady Hoke will indeed right the ship and get the program back on track in this rivalry? Of course, but the last three losses didn't disappear from the record books just because Rodriguez was fired. Those who take anything away from MSU's wins because they came against Rodriguez are indeed making excuses. In fact, they are making excuses just like the MSU fans that discount everything Michigan did in the rivalry when Williams and Smith were at MSU. In all rivalries, a win is a win is a win, regardless of who is the head coach of the opposing team.