Borges Letting Gardner Audible
Great article on the Borges-Gardner dynamic we will get to see this fall. The most interesting quote to me was this:
"We don't want him calling the whole game," Borges said, "but there are instances where there are things he can take advantage of. There are situations where I don't call the right play, and he's got to get us out of that."
A common complaint around these parts seemed to be that we would run into stacked fronts and that our QBs did not appear to have the power to audible at the line. That apparently will not be the case next year.
Source: http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/74161/michigans-devin-gardner-gains-mental-edge
14-0. Book it.
Orange barrel...orange barrel .. Re route. Call papa bear.
EVER.
Blue.........42..........Kentuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucky.
Reference...nice...
Danny!
Snap
Love it. Audible to bubble screens, here we come!
One can only hope.
For the love of God, somebody start facebooking Devin. Somebody needs to be making that call to run that play.
I nominate Heiko.
Heiko has to ask Borges if the bubble screen will be an option for audibles. His reaction would be priceless.
As long as Borges loses some control, I am a happy man.
Oopty oop!?!
Dummy O this ain't no fuckin' sandlot
Your the dumbest smart kid I know. Oopty fucking oop!?!?!?!
B/c I think they will pretty much eliminate all QB designed run plays given the QB depth chart. Probably tell Gardner not to run unless its 3rd down scrambles.
Hopefully Gallon and Dileo get on the same page as Gardner for some sweet check-downs or audibles. Both guys are slippery in the open field.
This will be good when Borges malfunctions in the booth by calling Vinny Smith up the middle on 4 and 2 vs OSU.
because smith is out of eligiblity i think so we'd have to vacate the win after
It shows Borges is gaining trust in Gardner. And with Gardner, I think that trust is well placed.
Gardner is a smart kid and a smart football player. He's also one of the leaders of this team. Good move to publically endorse him being a leader on the field.
This is nothing but pure upside.
Annexation of Puerto Rico
Greatest football play ever.
I really wonder how the defense would react if they heard that audible called.
If I were Devin, I'd yell that for my own amusement.
They need to start practicing it now.
YEEEEA!!! NO MERCY!
....no ball.
I feel even in the first game Garner was in as QB last year he audibled several times throughout the game...
I cant wait till the season starts!
"Gardner devoted three weeks of the offseason exclusively to studying defensive fronts. The junior felt he had a good grasp on identifying pass coverages, but seeing where pressure would come from required more work. " - from the article
I think you can get the sense just by watching Gardner that he is an avid student of the game in addition to a talent, but I do like the "no limitations" approach and the drive it shows. This is a pretty cool development really, and I like that the coaches feel comfortable giving Gardner some control of the action and the ability to take advantage of situations as he sees fit. With Borges wanting to curtail the amount of running Gardner will do (10 carries per game or so, per the article), I definitely think this will help.
...would you just go stand on the other side please?
At least he sees and is willing to admit he's made some terrible calls. He just earned himself a +5 on my respect meter. This year is going to be wild, just 5 months to go. :(
Am really curious to see what the offense will look like since Borges now has most (all?) of the pieces he desires (albeit not fully developed pieces..yet).
As long as its not like NCAA when I hit the wrong button and audible to a fake spike pass every other play.
I can't wait for all the FIRE GARDENER!!!!!! posts.
Why would Michigan fire their GARDENER? I thought the grass was in pretty good shape last year.
...the question is, why do they even HAVE a gardener? If true, that's a...#spartymistake
You'll have to ask the idiots who write disparaging things about players in ALL CAPS!!!!!
All you guys are acting as if Borges had some strict policy against audibles. Could it perhaps be that Denard was incapable of reading defenses and audibling, and that once Devin moved over from wide receiver there wasn't enough time to teach him everything and thus he didn't audible either?
Now that Devin is comfortable reading defenses and is focusing soley on being a QB he is allowed to audible.
Well said Bill!
I was just getting ready to respond to Boston and say pretty much exactly what you said. I love(d) Denard, but as a pure QB, a guy able to exploit the naunces of offensive football, Denard seemed to leave a great deal to be desired. His talent, passion, and flat out speed kept him on the field, but there is no doubt in my mind that Borges was very reluctant to give him the wheel completely.
It was pretty obvious to everyone once DG came in that he was a more of a pure QB than Denard, and it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Borges' comfort level with DG's command is rapidly rising.
I am very excited to see what DG and Borges can create in the upcoming season, and even more so in the 2014 season.
but if I remember correctly he actually audibled quite a bit last year. To me that reinforces your point that it was more likely that Denard had the green light to audible, but just never chose to do so for whatever reason (whether that be lack of confidence, lack of ability ec). So I guess what I am sayiing is I agree with your reasoning completely, but I believe Devin audibled on a fairly frequent basis in his limited time last season, so this shouldn't be much of a surprise.
I'd kinda hope he would...you know he is a Quarterback and thats what they do
no more "fuck it armpunt"? : (
Nope, that's Mad Max's job now.
All those times when I said Denard Robinson was "not a good quarterback," these were things I was talking about. He played the position of Quarterback and put up some good numbers/performances at times, and he even won a lot of games in 2011. But things like audibles, accuracy, etc. were always an issue.
Gardner was bred to be a quarterback. He was one of the top players at his position in 2010 for a reason, and his play during the second half of last season reinforced why Michigan was lucky to have him grow up in our backyard and pick the Wolverines. I'm excited about watching him play this fall.