The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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Gardner remains U-M's backup quarterback, but the possibility of an athletic, 6-4, 203-pound receiver with good hands has Michigan's coaches intrigued. a smile. "That was my first real pass — I've thrown shorter passes be- fore. But that was a game where we weren't doing as well. They could have won the game, if that didn't happen. It felt great." Both Hoke and Borges alluded to verines, he'll turn right around and admit he loved to move to wideout during prep camps, because just dropping back to pass all the time felt boring. There are videos floating about that the fact that Gardner ramped up his attention to detail — including film study — in the offseason. As one of the more veteran Wolverines at this point, he felt ready to take on an ad- ditional challenge if it meant helping with the overall effort. That said, he remains determinedly depict him soaring to make catches, and he admitted to drawing plenty of enjoyment from showing off his versatility. "I like to have fun, and maybe PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL also make their reputation as fierce blockers, and that takes a little get- ting used to by a quarterback. In addition, receivers employ deferential toward the other wide re- ceivers. He's just around to help out if needed, he insists, adding that as good as Michigan's wideouts appear, he's probably not required there. Asked about his upside as a re- ceiver, he sounded more than hum- ble regarding his abilities. "I'm tall, and I can run a little bit," he said. "Our receivers corps is so good, I'm not really going to stand out." With Gardner, though, there's al- ways more, just under the surface. One of the more gregarious Wol- 32 THE WOLVERINE SEPTEMBER 2012 prove that I'm the best athlete in the state of Michigan," he said. "Grow- ing up, you can't just play one po- sition. You've got to play offense, you've got to play defense. You play football. I've never just been stuck at one position." Playing receiver, he noted, defi- nitely doesn't involve as much learn- ing as playing quarterback. "At quarterback, you've got to know everything," Gardner pointed out. "It's almost a step back. You don't have to know as much, when you're playing one receiver posi- tion." That said, far more than just run- ning around and catching footballs comes into play. Michigan receivers many other tricks of the trade to get open. Gardner didn't back down from anyone during summer work- outs, Roundtree noted, but found himself playing catch-up on some of the finer points at the position. "Devin will go out there and just talk smack to all the DBs," Roundtree said. "I'm just on the side, saying: 'What's about to happen?' But he goes out there and backs up his talk. He's really learned throughout the summer, through seven-on-seven. "He knows the playbook, but it's getting off a jam, running the right route or reading the right coverages. I feel like he'll do a good job at that. Being a quarterback, I'm sure he'll know the things we know." Gardner admitted he will bark at said. "At quarterback, I'm going to tell you I'm going to throw it over your head. I'm a very competitive defensive backs, but it's all in the game, he assured. "I'm a competitive individual," he