Lloyd Carr: Charles Woodson ‘right there’ as best Michigan player ever
Former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr told Rich Eisen that Charles Woodson is “right there” as perhaps the greatest Wolverine football player ever.
Woodson announced earlier this week that he will retire from the NFL after this season. He led Michigan to a national title in 1997 and won the Heisman Trophy that season, Carr’s third as the school’s head coach.
“Anybody who gets on that subject, he’s right there,” Carr said on The Rich Eisen Show. “Charles Woodson was certainly the greatest player that I coached at Michigan. I didn’t see all the great ones – we've had some great ones. Charles Woodson was special in every way, as a leader, as a player, as a guy who represented the game and the university in a way that made us all proud.”
Woodson also played receiver and returned punts at Michigan. He remains the only primarily defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy.
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“What Charles Woodson did in winning the Heisman Trophy as primarily a defensive player, that speaks volumes about his ability and his team won the national championship,” Carr said, according to The Detroit Free Press. “He did it all, he did everything you could do as a player at Michigan in the three years he was with us.”
Woodson is in the third season of his second stint in Oakland. During his 18–year career, Woodson has played for the Raiders for 11 total seasons. He also played seven years in Green Bay, where he won a Super Bowl XLV title.
Woodson is an eight–time Pro Bowler and three–time first–team All–Pro.
Carr, who also coached Tom Brady at Michigan, retired after the 2007 season.
- Stanley Kay
