Devin Gardner in Japan, Spring 2017: Rise fall to Big Blue
In Japan X-League Pearl Bowl sem-final action, Devin Gardner and the Nojima Rise were defeated by the IBM Big Blue (yeah) 27-19.
Gardner put in another impressive performance, rushing for 122 yards on 17 carries and an 18 yard TD run; and completing 20 of 36 passes for 279 yards and one TD and one INT.
IBM's defense was led by DE James Brooks (Arizona State), who had five tackles for loss in the game. Gardner was stopped by IBM's defense at two key points of the game- once near the goal line at the end of the first half, as IBM took a 21-12 lead into the intermission, and again late in the game.
Trailing by eight midway through the 4th quarter, on what turned out to be their second-last possession, a 56 yard pass from Gardner to Takahide Dejima to the 7 and a Gardner run brought Nojima as close as the IBM 1, but the Rise were unable to score. Gardner was stopped twice near the goal line, apparently injuring his hamstring on one play, but he remained in the game. Nojima burned their last two timeouts in that series.
A fourth down Gardner pass was too high, and IBM took over at their 3, allowing them to run some more time off the clock. Yuichiro Araki took over for Gardner at QB with around 2 minutes left at Nojima's 36 yard-line for a couple of plays, and a hobbled Gardner came back into the game on 3rd down, but with two more misfires the Rise turned the ball over on downs.
Overall, Gardner and the Rise seemed to lack some of the sharpness in all phases that they showed in their 38-20 defeat of defending X-League Champion Fujitsu two weeks earlier. Gardner said the Rise expect to add more Americans to the fall roster. Mario Ojemudia was spotted observing the game.
In the second semi-final game Obic defeated Lixil 35-7. They will face IBM for the Pearl Bowl Championship on June 19.
Apparently he plays for the Washington Valor in the Arena Footlball League (AFL).
Not in the spring.
The roster section Wikipedia page for the Washington Valor has Gallon listed in a sub-section titled "League Suspension", but no indication why.
There was talk of him playing in Canada this season, but I don't know how that has progressed.
Can you make playing football in Japan?
Article from a year ago, players aren't paid for playing football. Most have jobs that earn money and football seems to be played for fun and glory.
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/football/bucs/on-the-gridiron-a-world-aw…
playing for the fun like kids
Lame! I was hoping the season would still be going on in two months when I am going to be in Japan. It would be fun to hit up one of Gardner's games decked out it M gear.
The fall season (which is taken more seriously) starts at the beginning of September.
There is a small Michigan contingent that shows up for games, with a banner and dressed in Michigan gear.
I wish that there was some video of these games on youtube.
Gardner had the physical tools for the NFL. Too bad he didn't have Harbaugh as a coach or he might have been a first round draft pick. It looked for all the world like he was trending that way after his first six starts.
Got me daydreaming about Devin Gardner with Harbaugh coaching him... What a glorious dream it is.
Everyone always says this but Gardner was super raw with awful mechanics. He was all athleticism. Is there a head coach better at working with QBs than Harbaugh? Probably not but that doesn't mean he would have got Gardner to reach his full potential.
Harbaugh would've gotten him a hell of a lot farther along than Borges did, and that would've been enough.
But it's nice to see him still rocking the Ol' 98
DG also had a knack of throwing INT's at really bad times (*not that there is a good time to throw an INT). Not sure how that would have faired under Harbaugh.
I am almost certain DG would've been a 1st rounder under Harbaugh. Harbaugh is a QB whisperer and even under Borges, DG occasionally flashed some 1st round potential (namely UTLII). It's a shame Devin wasn't born 5 years later
The sad thing is that DG would have been better under literally ANY other coach/coaching system.
They absolutely pounded a square peg into a round hole.
And he came, of course, to play for RR, not Hoke. 5-Star, #1 dual-threat in the country.
Compared with Robinson, he would have brought more balance to the spread.
Forcing him into a pro-style, was a huge mistake, and did nothing to amplify his unique talents and skillset.
And even then, the "pro-style" offensive line "protection" (because it was an absolute joke) was so ridiculously bad, any pro-style pocket-passer would have looked terrible/maybe even worse.
Gardner is a true warrior, he literally had every single factor going against him, and he never complained.
I wish him way more than the best for his future. He truly deserves it.
After watching Gardner under Hoke and Rudock under Harbaugh, even my mom says it's a crime Gardner didn't get to develop under Harbs.
completely agree.
skilled teachers, coaches, mentors, parents, etc. are worth their weight in gold.
any time you see any great individual (keyword "great", not "successful" or even "rich"), you better believe they had someone else great in their lives.
wouldn't have turned him into a star, but would've made him servicable like Rudock
Personal intelligence and football intelligence are not the same thing. DG threw enough head-scratchers, regardless of system/coaches, to make me question his place on the latter scale.
Gardner was the #5 QB in the nation coming out of HS. You really think a horrible QB would be ranked that high?
I attended the game.
Been living in Asia for years.
In person, what is the competition like?
It's hard to say for sure, something like a cross between Division 3 or 3 and semi-pro, Size is the biggest difference (no pun intended), and while there is a lot of quickness, there are probably fewer players with outright speed and all-round athletic skill- those atheletes in Japan are playing baseball or soccer.
While Japanese teams practice a few times a week close to year-around, it's not quite the same as a full coaching staff and squad practicing and meeting daily and recruiting year round.
But the level is pretty high. In international tournaments, the US and Canadian teams are usually at the top, with Japan and Mexico right behind them. Without the US participating, Japan won the first three World Cups in American Football, and when the US did play in the 4th in 2007 (with a mixture of players who'd recently graduated from all levels of college football in the US, they defeated Japan in the final game in double overtime.
Mario Ojemudia will not look JV. If not for horrific timing, he would be in an NFL camp right now. Poor guy..
Devin Gardner for governor of Michigan.
better than half the candidates