Friday Night Lights Roadtrip: Inkster @ Southgate Comment Count

Tim

The MGoCreeper van headed to Southgate this weekend for its latest excursion, to see Devin Gardner and the Inkster Vikings take on the Titans of Southgate Anderson. Inkster walked away with a 35-7 victory, behind yet another stellar performance from Gardner:

Gardner finished the night with 74 yards rushing on 11 carries. He also passed for 171 yards and 2 touchdowns on an 11/19 performance.

This was not Devin at his most impressive, but it was still enough to blow out a team in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. A couple of the rushes he had were sacks that came on bad snaps where he had no chance to react, and some of the passes were catchable balls that the receivers weren't able to come down with. Still, it's clear that Devin is the best athlete on the field regardless of who steps onto it, and he's also been the better quarterback every time we've seen him play.

Inkster next takes on Warren De La Salle at 1PM on Saturday at Ferndale High School. Alas, we shall not be there, because there's some college football game going on at the time or something. If the Vikings win, they'll be in the State Finals.

Comments

pz

November 16th, 2009 at 5:11 PM ^

Maybe a bunch of the incompletions were called back or there were defensive penalties on the plays?

Either way, yeah, math and all that, but it is possible.

He looks like a man among boys. Given that, the most impressive thing to me is the arm. Rockets.

Crime Reporter

November 16th, 2009 at 5:01 PM ^

Gardner has the highest upside of any of our QB's, but I hope we can redshirt him next season, regardless if he enrolls early. His timing didn't look too good on this film, and it sure seemed like he had more than five incompletions. That being said, I can't wait to see him at Michigan.

BleedingBlue

November 16th, 2009 at 5:11 PM ^

He still shot-puts those short throws. Looks like his mechanics have regressed some, which is probably to be expected after not working with coach smith in months. Kid is enormous, though and has some serious, serious potential. watching him do that option-read, pull the ball and blast through the line was awesome. Will take him a while to adjust to not being the hugest and best athlete on the field I would think. He fumbled too...grrrr.

Dreams: DG getting seasoned after a redshirt year and a couple years as a backup/partial contributer, then stepping in to start as a redshirt Junior following Tate's Heisman winning senior year ...yes please!!

littlebrownjug

November 16th, 2009 at 5:32 PM ^

He does not use his lower body enough when he throws, but that can be taught. His size and fluidity really sticks out, and I think he could be a good player with some technical coaching at the next level. A redshirt year would really help him.

KennyGfanLMAO

November 16th, 2009 at 5:33 PM ^

he will be great for us in 2012 or 2013. but, if richrod starts another freshmen (like some fans want him to do) i will go completely insane. 3 freshmen quarterbacks in 3 years is not good. besides, i think tate is something special, and he might be our next hiesmen winner

Duncan

November 16th, 2009 at 5:49 PM ^

for Southgate. He must be 5'5" and 160 lbs playing DT. At least that's what it looked like vs Gardner.

Oh, I think Gardner looked like crap. It's obviously well known about his technique. This game was one that you need to file away and compare a few years down.

MGoObes

November 17th, 2009 at 1:47 AM ^

at the beginning of the year he was stepping into all of his throws and had near perfect form. it's pretty much expected for something like that to happen over the course of a HS season. it wasn't one of his better games but he certainly didn't look like crap.

willis j

November 16th, 2009 at 10:17 PM ^

to say im not impressed, but I can definitely see the need for improved mechanics and for him to get some higher level coaching under his belt. He looks like he has all of the talent in the world. And from reading his interviews he seems to have a good head on his shoulders as well.

readyourguard

November 17th, 2009 at 10:24 AM ^

Lots of throwing off the back foot and not a "strong" delivery, at least in my opinion (comparing what I just watched vs. all the press I've read about the guy).

BUT, despite that, I allowed myself to dream of the next "Vince Young"-type wearing the winged helmet.

aaamichfan

November 16th, 2009 at 7:01 PM ^

He definitely shows a decent amount of promise, especially in his ability to run. There shouldn't be much of a discussion about whether he redshirts next yr though. He is raw enough where it might take a full two years before he is ready to see the field.

Tim

November 16th, 2009 at 8:48 PM ^

I've seen a lot of Bolden (probably more than I've seen of Gardner).

He has a really strong arm and good size, but that's about it. He doesn't have any "gamer" qualities, where he can dominate. He's got good accuracy, but nothing special. He might end up being pretty good, but it will probably take a while. The arm strength and size are basically all he has at this point, but it's enough to work with and turn into a decent QB down the road.

wiscwood

November 16th, 2009 at 9:50 PM ^

Devin will be a good player at Michigan. He needs to sit out a year and get seasoned. I'd like to see how well he plays when he has good players on the field with him. His technique needs honing. He throws the deep ball really well. In the clip there were no deep throws. I have seen his arm make the deep throw. I think he has a high ceiling. He will have to get stronger, he is thin for his height. His legs need more muscles.

maizenbluedevil

November 16th, 2009 at 10:14 PM ^

Man, you guys amaze me every week w/ this video. It is the highest quality video, bar none, that I've ever seen of a high school game. A lot of the other stuff out there is such low quality it looks like Tecmo Bowl in comparison to this. Well done!!

This may be in the works already, but there's a ton of footage of DG from this year. Has anyone thought of burning a DVD of it all and sending it to Devin's parents? Parents love that kind of stuff, and it'd be a nice gesture from the Michigan football fan community. (Or they might find it disturbing that a bunch of older dudes have been following Devin around in the MGoCreeperVan collecting video footage. Hahaha, j/k!)

Rasmus

November 17th, 2009 at 9:02 AM ^

Barring injuries, he will certainly redshirt, but he could really pressure Tate the following year.

Tate needs to improve next year. He will, but how much? Another tough season could be enough to knock him out of the starting job.

The wildcard in this is Denard, who is set to improve as well. It's possible he will end up ahead of Tate a year from now. I just don't like Tate's running ability -- he's more of a spread quarterback than a spread-option quarterback.

IBleedMaizeNBlue

November 17th, 2009 at 9:19 AM ^

Hey Tim,

as a longtime reader of this blog, I've got to say that the DG and the Austin White content really is something special. With all the hype and star-rankings and all that BS that I no longer pay attention to, great footage like this is what tells me the most about a recruit. I really like that you put all touches, not just highlights, on the video so that we can get a complete look at a recruit. Thanks for going out there and sharing this with us. I love the videos and keep 'em coming.

Greg

Don

November 17th, 2009 at 9:40 AM ^

I saw the same thing that caup and others did; by my tally he was 11/22. If some were 2-pt conversions that don't count toward stats (why would that be?) then 11/19 makes sense.

This is why you have to look at lots and lots of film to evaluate HS kids. I haven't seen any other DG highlights, but based solely on this game, the notion held by some that he's going to march right in as a freshman next year and challenge Tate for the starter's job seems a bit far-fetched to me. He's got plenty of work to do, which is what a redshirt is for. The thing that people need to keep in mind is that in each HS game he plays he's very likely the most physically talented, and perhaps even the biggest, athlete on the field. Many of the Southgate kids looked like midgets trying to take him down. Ain't going to be like that at UM.

BostonWolverine

November 17th, 2009 at 12:26 PM ^

I'll agree with the statements that he's a raw talent, absolutely. I saw a couple throws that were incompletions here, but would've been picks in college. That said, he seems to have a good feel, and he often looks like he's moving faster than the rest of the game. That's a good sign of things to come. He's gonna be special. Hope he gets his 5th star on Rivals.

mgovictors23

November 17th, 2009 at 3:40 PM ^

Ultimately I feel he is redshirting next year so then he will be a redshirt freshman when Tate is a junior and Devin will have some years to be the starter. The guy is one of the best athletes I have ever seen and his potential is through the roof.