Devin Gardner on CBSSports 2013 Heisman Watch List
This was also referenced in a Detroit News article, but since they didn't provide a link to CBSSports, I will not provide a link there.
Devin is listed in the "Others to Watch" section, behind front-runners like Aaron Murray, Marquise Lee, and /shuddersvomits Braxton Miller.
Of course it's too early and the sample size is ridiculously small. Still impressive to get named to anyone's list after such a short time. Other B1G mentions: Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah and Taylor Martinez, and Michigan State's Leveon Bell (just kidding).
Oddly enough, he (Chris Huston) does not include Johnny Football on this list.
December 9th, 2012 at 9:27 PM ^
Devin has a chance for the Heisman if he follows the checklist.
1. Be a QB or RB.
2. Amass decent stats and don't have a really bad game.
3. Pick up a great nickname that encourages the media to write about you.
4. Win a signature game against undefeated and #1 Ohio State with a late drive and have decent stats that game.
Someone in the media is going to have to give him a great nickname that sticks, and Ohio might not be undefeated by then, but 1 is done and 2 is within his grasp.
December 10th, 2012 at 10:41 AM ^
is it too late to call him Chauncey?
December 9th, 2012 at 10:29 PM ^
Is "shuttersvomits" something like "drapesvomits"?
/spelling police
December 10th, 2012 at 7:39 AM ^
fixed, thanks
December 10th, 2012 at 6:23 AM ^
...who will single-handedly ruin DG Heisman campaign by week 3.
If he can't make Denard a serious Heisman candidate, I doubt he will for Gardner.
December 10th, 2012 at 8:53 AM ^
Even if Denard had been on track to be a serious Heisman candidate, missing about 1/3 of the season due to injury would have halted that campaign.
Also, Denard CAN'T PASS THE BALL. He has always been a poor passer. You can't blame that on Borges, and poor passers don't win the Heisman unless the team goes undefeated and/or they run for a crap ton of yards. Denard completed 47% of his passes in high school, and his only year above the mid-50's was in 2010 when he threw bubble screens and hitches galore. Absolutely nobody expects him to play QB in the pros.
But never mind. Our offensive coordinator was solely responsible for him hurting his elbow and the fact that he was an inaccurate passer all the way back in 2008, even though the two never met until January 2011...
December 10th, 2012 at 11:15 AM ^
I'm on my phone so I don't have easy access to the stats, but I believe Denard's stats got worse as the years went on, even when you factor in his injury this year.
I don't disagree that Denard can't pass...the long ball. But on short passes, he was serviceable enough, and with his deadly ground game, he was at one point the heisman front runner.
Then Borges comes along. Many were certain that DR Heisman days were ahead of him, not behind him.
December 10th, 2012 at 11:39 AM ^
It wasn't all on Borges. Yes, Denard was a serious Heisman candidate for the first few weeks of 2010.
His opponents were UConn, Notre Dame in Brian Kelly's first year, UMass, Bowling Green, and Indiana.
Then Denard threw 3 picks against MSU and got knocked out of the Iowa game.
Lots of people are Heisman candidates after Week 5. That doesn't mean they're the best player in the nation.
December 10th, 2012 at 1:44 PM ^
I'm nominating you for the great honor of being the first entrant in the MGoBlog Hyperbole Hall of Fame. It's one thing to say that passing is not the strength of Denard's game, that he is turnover-prone, etc. But the number of times you have shouted -- because, apparently, just asserting it isn't enough -- that Denard CAN'T PASS THE BALL, that he's a TERRIBLE passer, and on and on, is somewhat difficult to square with the fact that Denard has the fourth most passing yards in Michigan history (and would have been third, ahead of Grbac, if not for his injury this year). You're welcome to your opinion of Denard as a passer -- and, in general, your opinions here contribute positively to the discussion -- but can you please dial down the hate just a bit when it comes to Denard as a QB?
December 10th, 2012 at 3:08 PM ^
Denard Robinson has thrown 39 interceptions (compared to 49 touchdowns) in 746 career attempts, placing him #1 in school history in the former category. Chad Henne threw 2 fewer interceptions than Denard . . . on 1,387 career attempts. Denard throws interceptions 5.2% of the time, and Henne threw 2.7% of his passes for interceptions.
I don't hate Denard. I like him. But the fact remains that he has always been an inaccurate passer who's prone to poor decisions and turnovers; only a handful of other FBS starters threw an equal number of (or more) interceptions than touchdowns this season, and Denard had 9 of each. Unfortunately, the numbers back me up on this.
December 10th, 2012 at 3:40 PM ^
the numbers back up Windy City as much as you. In Denard's best year, 2010, he was 182/291 (62.5%), passed for 2570 yards, averaged 8.83 YPA, and had an 18/11 TD/INT ratio. In Chad Henne's junior year (arguably his best, featuring his highest completion percentage and QB rating), he was 203/328 (61.9%), passed for 2508 yards, averaged 7.6 YPA, and had a 22/8 TD/INT ratio. That's pretty comparable, and suggests that with optimal coaching and personnel around him, Denard would have continued to progess as a quality college QB.
More generally, the topic of discussion was Denard's prospects as a Heisman candidate. Pat White, for example, was in the Heisman conversation a couple of years, and you'd have a hard time convincing me he was a better passer than Denard.
December 10th, 2012 at 4:17 PM ^
Exactly. Pat White wasn't a good passer, was he? He flamed out of the NFL almost immediately (although perhaps he would have tried to stick with it if he didn't have other options).
I've asserted over and over again that Denard's 2010 statistics were a function of the simplified offense that he ran. He threw bubble screens and rollout hitches all day long. Go back and watch those games, and see how many times the coaches tried to throw slow-developing routes or have him hit guys deep. It just didn't happen very often.
Roll him out and have him hit a guy 8 yards deep against Cover 3? Yeah, he can do that. Have Darryl Stonum run a bubble? Yeah, he can hit that (with scattered accuracy). Have him fake a run and then hit a wide-open Terrence Robinson or Roy Roundtree on the seam? Why yes, he can hit wide open receivers running naked down the field.
But you want him to sit in the pocket or roll out and make reads? You get Alabama. You get Notre Dame.
Whenever I try to make a point that's contrary to what the coaches on the field are doing, people say "The coaches are smarter than you, so shut up." Well, what did Michigan's coaches do with Denard? They gave him a chance to throw the ball and he couldn't do it, so they started running the ball more. The evidence is right there for you to accept. Rodriguez couldn't find a way to make Denard a successful thrower against halfway decent teams, and Hoke/Borges couldn't do it consistently, either. Denard had a great game against Ohio State in 2011, but otherwise, the only good passing games he had were pretty much against MAC teams and the like.
December 10th, 2012 at 4:32 PM ^
but I agree that this coaching staff couldn't get Denard to effectively run the pass-first offensive game plan that they thought would have the best chance of success against Alabama and Notre Dame. (Actually, I thought Denard did OK with that game plan against Alabama, though obviously not against Notre Dame.) Of course, we'll never know whether a different coaching approach might have gotten better results from Denard, or whether those were just his limitations regardless of coaching or surrounding players. My main point is, there's a difference between acknowledging Denard's limitations as a passer (e.g., conceding that he'll never be an NFL QB) and claiming that a pretty good college QB (with the numbers to prove it) is a "terrible" passer who "can't pass the ball."
December 10th, 2012 at 5:14 PM ^
But he's not a "pretty good college QB" from a passing standpoint. Over the past two seasons, when he was asked to make reads and do things that most quarterbacks should be able to do, he was a very poor quarterback. He completed less than 55% of his passes and had 29 touchdowns and 24 interceptions.
Denard completed 11/26 passes against Alabama for 200 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions (one of which was returned for a TD). We lost 41-14. How in the world is that "doing OK with that game plan"? Other than the yardage total, nothing about those statistics is anywhere close to being decent.
None of this is to take away from Denard's abilities as a runner, of course, and that's part of being a QB in the offense he's been running. But as a passer, he's not good. He's not. Compare him to most of the other quarterbacks in FBS football. From a TD-to-INT standpoint, he's probably one of the worst 15-20 quarterbacks in the nation.
The numbers support my side, and so does the fact that Michigan's second- or third-string quarterback and part-time receiver played the position better than Denard did.
December 10th, 2012 at 9:49 AM ^
Through 4 games, Gardner is 57 of 90 for 1005 yards, 8 TDs, and 4 INTs. That's good for a passer efficiency rating of 177.58, and if Gardner continued at that clip he would be the nation's most efficient passer.
Excited for our 2013 air raid offense O.o
December 10th, 2012 at 10:52 AM ^
I thought it was 9 TDs passing (thewolverine magazine had that stat), and add in an additional 6 TDs rushing.
December 10th, 2012 at 12:11 PM ^
How in the hell is Aaron Murray not graduating this year??? He's one of those guys that seems like he's been playing college ball for a decade...
December 10th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
A few thoughts...
(1) If the combo of Darboh, Chesson and any freshmen can put up the production of Roundtree over the last few games, our receiving corp will be essentially unchanged with a senior Jeremy Gallon leading the way. Devin Funchess should become a 40+ catch target.
(2) Next year really will be the year that makes or breaks Al Borges. It's pretty clear that Devin posesses a skill set that Borges is more comfortable molding for his WCO. If this combination puts it together in the offseason and develops an offense with a clear identity, Devin could be vince young 2.0---- seriously. With the deep ball accuracy and ability to create outside the pocket, he puts a ton of stress on defenses. Think about this: at worst, I see Devin putting up a Terrelle Pryor statline that's somewhere between his 2009 and 2010 production:
| 2010 | Ohio State | Big Ten | JR | QB | 210 | 323 | 65.0 | 2772 | 8.6 | 8.7 | 27 | 11 | 157.9 |
| 2009 | Ohio State | Big Ten | SO | QB | 167 | 295 | 56.6 | 2094 | 7.1 | 6.6 | 18 | 11 | 128.9 |
that would be about 61% completions, 2400 yards, 7.9ypa, 22 TDS, 11 ints. Totally doable.
(3) The emergence of a running game and a bruising O-Line will obviously tell us how far we will go in the B1G. I think we will be at our most vulnerable early in the season next year, and it will take a few games to get our run game going. Really, ND, Nebraska and OSU are the question mark games that will determine our season. I think we probably win the Nebraska game, and wins in the other 2 provide Gardner a chance to state his candidacy for the heisman.
Anyway, it's not a crazy thought that Devin can contend for the heisman, but there's a lot that needs to happen for him to have a legit shot.