The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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players, and both will play next-level football. "But our inside guys were young. The residual of that is that the quarterback takes some hits, and that is not easy to do. In the five games he played a year ago, he did not take the punishment he took in even the first five games this year. He got hit a lot, and there are always some effects that are going to go with that, with any quarterback." Gardner learned the hard way there's a flip side to all the quarterback adulation. Some 35 sacks (a mark that ranked 109th out of 123 BCS schools) and countless other hits underscored that message, and the response proved admirable. "He had to learn, and did learn, how to be a warrior," Borges said. "The position is a lot about toughness. People don't talk enough about that aspect of quarterbacks. They talk about reading the defense and decision-making, and those are huge. I've never shortchanged those, but by the same token, if you don't have a tough mind and a tough demeanor to you, and a short memory, it's very difficult to play this position and excel." This season provided more than ample opportunity for the redshirt junior quarterback to prove himself in that area, and perhaps develop an added layer of hardened hide. "I always knew that he was tough," noted fifth-year senior wideout Jeremy Gallon. "He showed me more, but I always knew that he was the toughest guy, in my opinion, on the team. Him going out and playing through his injury just showed how tough he was as a player." "I always knew Devin was tough," Lewan concurred. "When it comes to football, he's a football player. He played his heart out, and he'll continue to play his heart out." More importantly, Lewan stressed, when Gardner gets time, he's an accurate, capable quarterback. The outgoing All-American expects those attributes to come into focus more and Michigan Offense Game By Game Opponent Rush Pass Total 3rd Down TO Pts. Central Michigan 242221463 10-for-15 3 59 Notre Dame 1662944606-for-12 1 41 Akron 1772484253-for-10 4 28 Connecticut 19297289 7-for-17 424 Minnesota 113235348 10-for-13 0 42 Penn State 1492403894-for-18 3 40 Indiana 2485037517-for-11 2 63 Michigan State -48 216 168 2-for-13 1 6 Nebraska -21 1961753-for-15 0 13 Northwestern 1392263372-for-18 0 27 Iowa 60 98 1584-for-14 1 21 Ohio State 1524516038-for-14 1 41