Trevor Keegan responds to U-M allegations: 'It's bothersome'
Michigan Wolverines captain and starting guard Trevor Keegan is in the home stretch of his fifth season with the program. That time has included some rough patches early on and a complete turnaround on the field over the last two years.
That’s what has made the allegations of illegal scouting/sign-stealing a chore to deal with for Michigan players like Keegan, who was at the forefront of bringing the program back to prominence. He addressed the noise surrounding the program on Tuesday night.
“I don’t have too much say on that,” Keegan said. “But as a player that has been here a while, it’s bothersome, because we’ve worked so hard to change this program and bring it back to where it’s supposed to be. Everybody can make their allegations all they want but the people who were in here know what we do and we know how we work. We know how we are as teammates and as a family here. So yeah, it’s whatever. It’s whatever at this point.”
Coaches and administrators are the ones most responsible for whatever happens next and how to respond to it, but the players have to push forward and take care of their business on the field.
“Obviously, it’s a distraction,” Keegan said. “But you know the guys and the people in this facility, people in this program, our heads are so focused on our goals. There’s maybe a little roadblock, a little adversity we gotta go past but we’re ready to roll — that’s our mindset right now.
“Like coach said, ‘People, they got their opinions, are welcome to have it.’ But, as a team, and as a leader, we’re gonna continue to be us, what we’ve done the past three years, we’re gonna continue to work, continue to do what we do, and continue to work for each other in this team, in this program. So that’s really it.”
In the days after the accusations emerged, Michigan had a chance to take care of business of its rival up the road at Michigan State. They were able to do just that in a 49-0 win, and Keegan said revenge was squarely on their minds in the contest.
“We came into that game hoping to make a statement for the bye week,” Keegan said. “I think it was really the thing that happened last year, the tunnel, motivated us as well. I know guys were like, ‘Don’t let it distract you,’ things like that, and ‘we’re over it.’
“No, we weren’t over it. We wanted to come there and really beat down on ‘em.”
Keegan and Michigan’s offense gets back to work this week and looks to continue the momentum built over the first eight games of the season. The run game has not come together as spectaculary as some hoped it would, but J.J. McCarthy and the passing attack have helped offset that.
As an offensive lineman, Keegan’s happy with scoring points and blowing teams out as they have.
“I was talking to the guys after the Michigan State game: It was like would you rather drive by car or take a private jet?” Keegan said. “We don’t have to rush for 300 yards. If we’re passing and J.J. is throwing three touchdowns and 300 yards, and we’re winning and we’re kicking tail, I’m totally all right with that. We don’t got to rush for 300 yards.
“Obviously we want to get the rushing attack a little bit better and clean up the run-fits, but we got 9 back there slinging it like that. It doesn’t really matter.”
Saturday night’s return to action kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET against Purdue at Michigan Stadium. NBC will carry the telecast.
