5th-years and spring practice
It seems that 5th-year seniors can participate in spring practice:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/former-byu-qb-christian…
In most cases that wouldn't make any sense, but BYU has a need for a QB.
EDIT: Sorry -- I forgot the "NO-NOT-SRSLY" tag. I didn't mean to suggest that Gardner _should_ come back. (As others have noted, he enrolled early in 2010.) Just thought it was an interesting story ...
Gardner wouldn't be eligible this spring even if he was enrolled since he has secured an agent and taken royalty payments. Also I expect every person in Ann Arbor has bought him a beer by now.
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T-shirt in the works.
I've been sitting on the corner of State and North U for two weeks with a frozen Two Hearted but Devin has yet to show up.
he couldn't have stayed at WR. He was never going to be an NFL QB, but he could have been drafted at another position given proper coaching.
Coaching staff really failed the guy.
The coaching staff didn't fail him by keeping him at quarterback. He wanted to be a quarterback, and he was the best quarterback on the team.
Did they develop him properly? No. But your implication that they failed him by not keeping him at WR is misguided.
but it just doesn't make any sense to me. He showed some flashes of brilliance playing QB (specific examples upthread), but did he really think he was going to play QB in the NFL? If not, then why would he want to continue to play the position in college?
I get why Hoke kept him there as the Minn game showed us that Shane was clearly not ready for prime time. But if I'm playing for Michigan, with my eyes on the NFL, I think I would want to play at the position most likely to get me there.
IDK, I just feel bad for the guy. He took a lot of shit for things that were out of his control.
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Denard was a once in a generation talent. Devin, while also talented, was just not on the same level.
But even for all his talent, Denard went in the 5th round, and not as a QB. So maybe it would have been better for him to have played a different position.
I think both were generational talents. Denard has incredible speed which we got to see every Saturday. Devin, like Terrelle Pryor and Vince Young, has a very high ceiling. Devin's got what it takes to be an NFL QB; he's also very fit to be an NFL WR. We have been lucky to have been able to watch two successive QBs, Denard and Devin, who could be absolutely electric and unstoppable at times. The team may not have been great, nor the coaching, but Denard and Devin at least gave Michigan a chance to win each Saturday. Great talents and better men.
After his brief stint of starting at QB at the end of 2012, I think most UM fans were salivating at what he would be as a 5th yr senior in 2014. He wasn't a world beater in 2012 but for a guy making only a few starts there were enough glimpses in those games that most people thought if he improved some each year, 2014 had the potential to be a pretty special year.
He was a very raw prospect with size and athletic ability.Was he a better future NFL prospect at WR than at QB? Maybe, with the benefit of hindsight, he was. But he would have had to improve quite a bit. I think he had the potential to do that at QB too, even though it didn't happen. A lot of that may have had to do with circumstance. Can anyone really have expected him to emerge as an NFL WR with Bellomy and then Morris throwing to him? Behind the O-lines they had? I seriously doubt Funchess would be headed off early to the NFL without Gardner playing QB.
"He showed some flashes of brilliance playing QB (specific examples upthread), but did he really think he was going to play QB in the NFL?"
Maybe. You'd have to ask him.
Antwaan Randle-el also probably had a good idea that he would not play QB in the NFL. He played QB at Indiana. Why? Presumably because he realized that he was the best option, and the team is more important than the individual.
I disagree.
I think he was the best QB on the team, and keeping him at QB was best for the TEAM... but for him personally, it wasn't the best thing.
...and the fact that he didn't realize that is just an example of the the coaching staff failing him.
I'm not entirely sure he never could've made it as an NFL QB. I mean yeah, his bad was really bad, but his good was also really good. He looked nearly flawless against OSU and ND last year, so he at least had the potential. He was just too damn inconsistent. A lot of that's on him, but the coaches and his O-Line didn't do him any favors, either.
No idea what would've happened had Harbaugh been his coach instead of Hoke, but I think it'd be a reasonable assumption that he would've at least had a shot to make it as an NFL QB. I think Harbaugh could've found a way to make him a lot more consistent.
So let's assume for a second that this was allowable. Even though it's not for reasons Seth points out, let's just for fun assume it was something we could do.
Why in the name of Jesus tap dancing Christ would Gardner WANT to do this? Who in their right mind (and based on his grades and ability to graduate early his intellect shouldnt be in question) would anyone want to spend all the time necessary to learn a new system and go to practices knowing you'll never play in a game? That would be insane.
Anybody agreeing to that deal wins my vote for "most likely to consumate a business deal wiith a Nigerian Prince".
Here is what people fail to understand...Gardner has been working out specifically at WR for the last 2 months at least out in LA. Why does he now need to practice with the Michigan team? He gets nothing out of it, and he needs to worry about himself and impressing NFL teams, not trying to pass along knowledge to anyone on the current Michigan team.
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you can all go fuck yourself
You guys should loosen up, are any of you actively trying to identify who I am so you can track down my friends cousin and report it to Michigan to protect FORT HARBAUGH?!?!
Now stay on the topic at hand instead of being an idiot.
Bath salts are a helluva drug.
drugs are bad, mmmkay?
I'd worry more about your "friend's cousin" tracking you down and beating the shit out of you for being such an insufferable blabbermouth.
I'm thinking you don't have the "friend" any more either, if he is smart, because you are no friend of his.
lets bring back "clap happy Hoke" for old time sakes.