PAT CAPUTO: Great QB or just great athlete? We’ll find out sooner instead of later about Michigan Wolverines Denard …
by admin on Aug.11, 2012, under Other
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Everything about Denard Robinson, Michigan’s quarterback, suggests he is by far the best player on a team in the midst of an upward surge.
His statistics. Robinson has thrown for more than 2,000 yards, and rushed for more than 1,000, each of the past two seasons.
He is a winner. Michigan was 11-2 last season, and won a BCS bowl game, the Sugar Bowl over Virginia Tech, with Robinson under center. His leadership. It’s taken awhile, but you can see where the Wolverines of 2012 are going to be Denard Robinson’s team.
Virtually all pundits listing preseason Heisman Trophy candidates, have Robinson in the Top 10, most in the Top 5. He has finished as high as No.6 in Heisman voting – in 2010.
While these are the facts, they don’t always lineup with the perception.
If Robinson misses a few passes, Twitter and Facebook are immediately flooded with comments about how Devin Gardner should be Michigan’s quarterback, and how Brady Hoke should have moved Robinson to wide receiver or running back.
It’s what made recent developments rather interesting. Gardner, who was a four-star recruit, pushing five-star, at Inkster High School, has changed his number from 7 to 12 and is moving to wide receiver for his junior season.
Russell Bellomy, the Wolverines’ third-string quarterback, got more snaps in the spring, and although raw and athletic, is more the prototypical quarterback for the West Coast system. Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges had deployed before inheriting a spread option quarterback with Robinson’s considerable talent at Michigan.
Gardner is still the backup QB. It appears he will likely start next season as a senior, while Michigan brings in its presumed QB of the future, Shane Morris, a left-handed traditional pass-first 5-star recruit from Warren De La Salle.
It’s made the current state of the Wolverines an oddity. They are riding Robinson, and his style of play now, but will be changing directions in mid-stream of Hoke’s program when Gardner, who is a lot more comfortable in the pocket than Robinson, takes over – and then, Morris. Continued…
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Article source: http://theoaklandpress.com/articles/2012/08/11/sports/doc5025a951a24f7787667988.txt
