Michigan's spring game wasn't a long affair and score wasn't kept, but Devin Gardner looked nice on a frigid day in Ann Arbor.
2013 Michigan spring game results: Devin Gardner looks good in orange
Score wasn’t kept in Michigan’s spring game, but Devin Gardner made some nice plays and appears to have a strong rapport with his tight ends. Freshman Taco Charlton made some noise along Michigan’s strong defensive line.
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It wasn’t spring-like -- Brady Hoke didn’t mind, showing up in shorts -- and for some reason a robot showed up with the game ball:
Yes, a robot delivered the game ball. #MichiganDifference vine.co/v/bF70lZA7EIx
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) April 13, 2013
The problem for Michigan was offensive depth: they were without backup quarterback Russell Bellomy, out with a torn ACL, and Fitzgerald Toussaint still can't play with a broken leg -- so besides having Gardner drop back and throw, there wasn't really much interesting going on. Gardner looked fine, completing 11 of 15 passes for 143 yards and a touchdown, a 12-yarder to true freshman tight end Jake Butt. He seems to have a good rapport with his various tight ends -- the play of the day was probably this nice catch on a play action pass to Devin Funchess, followed up by a Thomas Rawls score:
Rawls was a spring star last year, scoring both touchdowns in the scrimmage, but it didn’t really mean anything when the actual year came around.
Gardner would play five series -- last year, Denard Robinson only played one. Walk-on Brian Cleary was relatively ineffective and fumbled some snaps, and Taco Charlton tackled third-stringer Alex Sweica twice despite the blatantly orange no-contact jersey borrowed from Oregon State. (Hoke said it was a freshman mistake after the game.)
The defensive line looked strong: there were sacks by Charlton (obviously), as well as Jibreel Black, Frank Clark, and Mario Ojemudia. Not the greatest day for Michigan's offensive line, which could be worrisome.
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