Should Michigan red-shirt Devin Gardner?

If they can without doing damage to this season, they absolutely should. I am in no hurry to burn one of his 4 years of playing time. If at all possible, the longer we keep him in the program, the better.

should they RS him? yes.

What an interesting question! I've never heard it asked before.

Redshirt unless he's somehow better than Denard. Even if he's better than Tate, you're not getting very much use out of him unless he can take snaps away from Denard.

1.  How Tate and Denard preform.

2.  Injuries.

I believe it's in everyones best interest if he is red shirted.

If DG gives us an opportunity to win any game then he doesn't redshirt.

All indications are that Gardner is currently Michigan’s third-best QB. He may have the highest upside, but as of today he is least prepared to start.

Rodriguez has already said that he will not burn Gardner’s redshirt just to give him mop-up duty. If Robinson and Forcier remain the team’s two best QBs for at least the first half of the season, I do not see Gardner getting any playing time.

After the first half, burning his redshirt would be just plain stupid, unless the guys ahead of him are injured or are not playing well.

Obviously you get him as ready as you can, but you only play him if calamity strikes, i.e., Denard and/or Tate get injured, or just crap the bed.

People keep forgetting about freshmen—they always make freshmen mistakes. If we had a lights-out defense, that might be tolerable. We don't.

Most importantly, you do NOT put him in the game for mop-up duty in a blowout win or loss. That's reserved for guys like Jack Kennedy.

The only ways a qb should ever not be redshirted his true freshman year is because the current starter is a senior and the frosh is almost certain to start the next OR the frosh is that damn good, and as we saw in USC's barkley who was the top QB and a top 5 players in HS according to Rivals et al, on the college level it still aint THAT good.

Gardner is still not guaranteed to start next year as well, so why waste a year where he could mature another year and come out firing the next? 

Yes.

Another Yes from me.  Love DG, really looking forward to seeing him light it up, but hoping its a few years down the road when he's a 20-something year old man.

DG would redshirt.  However, from what I've been told, it's not going to happen.  Coaches want him to get some game experience to prep as a possible starting QB in '11 season.  They never planned on redshirting him anyway.

of any of our QB's.  That being said, I think it would be in the team's best interests if he redshirts, barring injury issues that force him to play.  I think he'll have a legit shot to be the starter next season.  But if RichRod feels that it's best to start him/play him this year, then I won't second guess him.

This would have been a much easier decision to make had we gone to a bowl game last year. Unfortunately the desire to have a winning season has created a winning-at-all-costs environment and it could potentially have negative long term effects.

My personal opinion is that we HAVE to redshirt him. The reality is that we might not be able to this year. He's one hell of an athlete and if he provides us a chance to win games RichRod is going to play him.

He will not play in mop-up duty though I can guarantee that. It's either he plays or he doesn't.

Maybe the coaches know something we don't (imagine that!), but given that Tate and Denard  seem to have high ceilings, the depth at QB, and the experience at QB .... I just don't see how you play DG, barring injury to the former two. If he is decidedly better than Tate and Denard, then you'd have to play him. I just hope that isn't the case ...not yet, at least.

It's clear to me that unless D-Rob or Tate are unable to play (don't want to use the i-word) or struggle then this is just a no-brainer to redshirt. He hasnt separated himself from Tate so just go with D-Rob and Tate. If not then we lose all 3 in a 2 year span.  I hope we don't need to play him this year.

And all inidcations are DG will be the third-best QB on the roster this season, so we may as well redshirt him and preserve a year of eligibility.

It doesn't seem there is anything in particular that DG offers at this point that Tate or Denard can't do.

As of right now he is AT BEST on par with Tate. At best. So, let us do a cost-benefit analysis (Note: all of this is done with the assumption that (a) Denard is starting, (b) needs someone to playback up or give him a breather from all of his loooooong runs, and once again Tate =DG ):

- Play Tate, RS Devin: You are a wash in terms of level of play (More experience with less athleticism). You have gained an extra year after Denard and Tate have both graduated + a whole year of him learning the playbook and how the system works before seeing the field against tough opponents. You lose nothing. 

- Play Devin, Tate rides pine: You are a wash in terms of level of play (More athleticism with less experience). You only have 1 year post Denard and Tate instead of 2, which places us with a RS Soph instead of a RS Senior. That is a monumental difference.

As the saying goes, the fans favorite QB on the roster is the back-up who has potential.  Honestly, unless Denard or Tate goes down to serious injury, I do not think I can handle the idea of having another Frosh QB at the helm, as we hit the brutal part of our schedule. Only Henne has come out of that mess fairly unscathed, but had his butt saved by a senior offensive line and guys like Edwards and Hart and Ecker making incredible plays to make his quasi-frequent bad passes into completions. I would like to put as MUCH distance between us and having to play a Frosh QB (especially for the third year in a row) as possible.

Experience Trumps Talent. Experienced Talent Trumps All. Those who stay will be champions.

I just don't get why people are so eager to burn and waste a year of eligibility with DG, 3 times in a row getting freshman QBs on the field = 3-9 and 5-7, and ???(but i suspect it'd be a bad record), there´s no need to rush DG into the field, he'll have a luxury that many of our latest QBs haven't had, i just remember how everyone was expecting Drew Henson to take the field when he arrived @ Michigan and IIRC that almost drove Tom Brady off the team, a QB can have all the tools to succed, but time to adapt and experience are more important than just having the talent, when you have both you can start destroying the league but DG isn't there...yet.

If i'm his coach though i wouldn't tell him "You're redshirting this year son", I'd tell him that he has a chance and that there's still a gap that he needs to fill to get to a point where he can be the starter, so he will be motivated, and after the bowl win and thus the end of the season i'd tell him "You  have been redshirted son".

RR coachspeak by now.

I think that should be the tentative plan.  Give him some practice reps, but as long as both Denard and Tate are healthy, don't play Devin.  If one is out, then he plays.  I don't want to waste a year's eligibility on garbage-time plays, and it'd be better to put two years between him and the other two.   It's tricky, though, because our best two chances to get him playing time (in all likelihood) are weeks 3 and 4 (UMass and BG), so if he doesn't play and then one of the two goes down after that, that could be an issue.  But then again, does mop-up duty against UMass really prepare you to play against better teams?

Unless he would make a better starter over both DROB and Tate? The coaches will only know that leading up to the start of the season.  If Gardener is the best I would start him.  If he needs seasoning, I would RS him.  I think one day he will be a great starter.  But I'm not too worried about not RS him, since I know we will be winning a lot of games by 2012 and we will have the top spread QB's begging to play here. So either way we will be in good shape in the QB department!

There is no way Gardner is getting redshirted. No way in hell. After he gets some game time experience, Gardner may become the first or second best QB on this team. RR is not going to sit on that talent unless we start the season 8-0. Too much is riding on the line for RR this year. He needs to get this thing rolling this year and next year, and in order to do that Devin needs to play as early as possible.

Both Dr and TF are playing well and competing.  they both have a full year under their belts and can now confidently run the entire offense.  Gardner has some sick athletic skills, but if you put him in a game situation, there will definitely be some growing pains.  Why would we do that if there are already two competent and talented people ready to go.  Obviously, injuries would change the scenario, but that is a completely different situation, and should n't even be discussed at this time.  As for Gardner now - hand him a headset and a playbook.  Its great that he is competing for the job this year, but let him dry off a bit and expect fireworks come spring.  IMHO. 

He will redshirt if Robinson and/or Forcier play well. Rodriguez already knows what he has in Forcier, having worked with him all last season. Denard, on the other hand, is still largely an unknown in terms of running the full offense.

If Denard plays poorly, then Tate will get a chance. Only if both are making mistakes the coaching staff thinks they shouldn't be making (think bad decisions and/or not seeing the things on the field they should be seeing) will DG get playing time.

Don't read too much into Devin playing with the 2s. His main role this year is likely to be imitating the opposing quarterback as the defense prepares each week. Don't underestimate how useful it is to have a player of his caliber in that role, especially with so many questions on defense. The only way he doesn't redshirt is if the two starters aren't getting it done.

Yes, he should redshirt.  Unless he takes a magical leap in the next 12 days where he becomes far and away the best quarterback, he should redshirt.

Why would you WANT to play three quarterbacks? 

If the starter gets hurt, play the backup.  If the backup gets hurt, burn Gardner's redshirt. 

In the meantime, he should be watching from the sideline.