8A - Thursday, September19, 2013

Sports

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

S ports The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom

Manziel texts
Gardner support

By ZACH H
Daily Spoa
One week aft
ner received
texts from Johnn
Boyd and other n
Gardner calls h
fraternity," Ga
again buzzed wit
Saturday. This tir
the others reach
miserate.
In one week
redshirt junior,
his best perfor
Michigan quart
worst. Against
Akron, likely
the weakest
team the Wol-
verines will
see all year,
Gardner self-
destructed.
His four turn-
overs killed
drives and
allowed the
Zips to hang
in the game. Mi
only after a last-;
stand.
This week of p
the most tryin,
career. He said t
experienced a gs
against Akron, e
to high school.
Most weeks,,
with the medi
but Gardner's s
conference this
Wednesday. V
finally took ques
hard on himself
been.
During thev
coach Brady Hok
senior left tackl
emphasized mis
the team. Butn
Wednesday, Gar
blame.

TELFAND
-ts Editor
er Devin Gard-
congratulatory
ny Manziel, Tajh
sembers of what
is "quarterback
rdner's phone
th messages last
me, Manziel and
ied out to com-
, Gardner, the
had gone from
rmance as the
terback to his

that close, and alot of it because
of me," Gardner said.
At another point, Gardner said
it was his fault he didn't stem the
avalanche of mistakes.
"It starts with me," Gardner
said. "My mistake, and then oth-
ers making mistakes and just,
they kept compounding, and
that's one thing that we can't do.
It has to be me that picks us up
when mistakes are being made
to make sure that we turn it all
around."
Gardner was just a part of a
cascade of errors against Akron.
Sluggish routes by receivers and
abysmal offen-

sive line play
compounded
"It has to be me Gardner's
mistakes, but
that picks us up Gardner's were
e mthe most prom-
when mistakes inent, and the
ag most damag-
are b ade. ing.
That has
become an
alarming trend
ichigan escaped this season. Gardner threw two
second goal-line interceptions against Central
Michigan in Week 1. He was
ractice has been masterful against Notre Dame,
g of Gardner's but an interception in Michi-
hat he has never gan's own end zone threatened
ame like he had to erase Michigan's win.
ven dating back More vexing, Gardner has
avoided repeating the same mis-
Gardner speaks takes from game to game. That
a on Monday, means Gardner is processing
cheduled press what offensive coordinator Al
week fell on Borges is teaching him. But it
Vhen Gardner also means each turnover comes
tions, he was as from a different source, which
as he has ever makes correction more difficult.
"My biggest thing with any
week, Michigan position, not just quarterback
ke and fifth-year but any position, is how much
e Taylor Lewan do I have to re-coach you? How
takes made by many times am I telling you the
more than once same thing time and time again,
rdner took the and you're just not getting it?"
Borges said. "Devin is actu-

E
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TODD NdnLE/Daily
Redshirt junior quarterback Davin Gardner had four turnovers against Akron which killed drives and allowed the Zips to hang in the game sutl the finsi seconds.

coached. He's smart and an error
he makes, he generally won't
make it again. But these scenari-
os, they're different all the time."
To Borges, the key to Gard-
ner's consistency is decision-
making. Gardner has the skills
to extend plays. He rightly has
confidence in his strong arm. But
sometimes that becomes a prob-
lem. In one interception against
Akron, Gardner thought he could
fit the ball through tight cover-
age to fifth-year senior receiver
Jeremy Gallon. The defensive
back undercut the route and got

Borges said that a quarterback
must ask himself, " 'When do
I cut my losses?' You heard me
say it with Denard all the time.
When do you do it?"
On Gardner's other two inter-
ceptions, he misdiagnosed the
coverage on a screen that turned
into a pick-six and also had apass
bounce off sophomore tight end
Devin Funchess' chest and into a
defender's hands.
If Gardner's dynamic, some-
times risky play lends itself
toward boom and bust games,
he has enjoyed mostly booms.


yards in just two of eight games.
In 2012, Gardner never threw
more interceptions than touch-
downs in a game. He has never
completed less than half of his
passes. .
Even against Akron, Gardner
still passed for 248 yards and two
touchdowns and led Michigan
on a game-winning drive late in
the fourth quarter. That just fur-
ther underscores Gardner's place
as Michigan's most important
player. With Denard Robinson
out, Michigan was supposed to,
be a more balanced team. But


quarterback nearly as much as
it did under Robinson: Gardner
accounted for 83 percent of the
Wolverines' offense Saturday.
Gardner understands. He
answered each question at. his
Wednesday press conference,
but seemed eager to put the week
behind him. Near the end of
the it-minute press conference,
Gardner let out a deep breath,
half sigh and half chuckle.
"This week has been so long
and we're only halfway through
it," he said, then added: "And
then we've got an 8 o'clock game,

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