Devin Gardner: The quarterback Michigan actually wanted.

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Varsity Blue, like they do every week, put out their weekly Big Ten Recruiting Rankings on July 12, and for the first time since April, a team besides Michigan stood atop the rankings. That team would be Penn State, on the strength of a commitment from Orchard Lake St. Mary’s quarterback Robert Bolden, a four-star on both Rivals and Scout. Bolden is a great pickup for Penn State, and he’ll slide in as the second quarterback in their class behind blue-chip prospect Paul Jones (4* Rivals, 5* Scout). Varsity Blue’s Tim does slide this little line into the equation: “The Nittany Lions grab Robert Bolden, and pass Michigan (even though he’s overrated).”

Naturally, Penn State blog Zombie Nation wasn’t entirely pleased with the comment, but their response makes no sense:

We move on to a little something to cleanse the palette, from Varsity Blue. All the Big Ten recruiting action has prompted a redux of the class rankings. Penn State jumped to the top, for now; so what does VB have to say about it?

“The Nittany Lions grab Robert Bolden, and pass Michigan (even though he’s overrated).”

That’s right, VB pulls a Leinart*.

…

*Pulling a Leinart: Using negative comments to dilute one’s own agony of defeat, while attempting to diminish the opponent’s legitimate and outright victory. Origin: In a postgame interview, Leinart said that despite the Trojans’ loss to Texas, “I still think we’re a better team. They just made the plays in the end.”

There was no agony of defeat. We have Devin Gardner, the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the country, according to Rivals.com. Note that Bolden is No. 6 on that list. With Gardner in this class, and Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson coming in as freshmen this season, there was no way Michigan was going to secure the commitment of another blue-chip quarterback. Count in the fact that Bolden wasn’t exactly partial to the read-option offense (“Personally, I would like to run an offense that is not a spread,” Bolden said ($). “I’d like to get under center, run the spread, run the I-formation and everything else.” — that sounds a lot more like PSU’s “Spread HD,” a more diverse offense in terms of formations than Michigan’s read-option), and it came as no surprise to anyone who follows Michigan recruiting that Bolden dropped Michigan early on. We haven’t cared for a long time. Sorry to disappoint, but your “outright victory” came against another team (MSU) in a game we weren’t playing in. We’re more than happy with our haul of Gardner and South Carolina athlete Cornelius Jones, who provides depth at quarterback and the option of moving him to another position if it’s clear he won’t see the field, something that Bolden would most likely not agree to.

As for the overrated claim? Let’s take a look at junior-year statistics, for starters (via Rivals):

Gardner: 98-170 (58.0%, 11.1 yards per attempt), 1,886 yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 7 interceptions; 115 rushes, 1,401 yards (12.0 ypc), 22 rush TDs

Bolden: 72-113 (63.7%, 8.4 yards per attempt), 951 yards, 7 touchdowns (interceptions not listed); 73 carries, 260 yards (3.6 ypc), 3 rush TDs

Even with the missing interception data, Gardner blows Bolden out of the water with his high school numbers. The only edge for Bolden is a slight one, in completion percentage, and a quick look at the yards per attempt numbers explain much of that, as Gardner went downfield with his passes much more than Bolden. As for their scouting reports, the main knock on Gardner is mechanics (he has a Vince Young-esque three-quarters delivery), which isn’t as big an issue in the read-option spread as it would be in a pro-style offense (see: Vince Young). Bolden is lauded for his mechanics, but has had trouble with accuracy. Despite not having a chance to show off his true strength — his athleticism and playmaking ability in and out of the pocket — at summer camps, Gardner has stacked up well with more drill-friendly quarterbacks Bolden and Joe Boisture, and he took home MVP honors at the Scout.com Combine in Cincinnati. It really seems to me that Gardner is the much better prospect, even when I attempt to take off my maize-and-blue-tinted glasses. He does more with his athleticism, as clearly evidenced by the rushing numbers, and his passing stats are better than Bolden’s even with the quirky mechanics. Looking at Bolden’s numbers and his scouting reports, I just don’t see a guy who is in the same league as Gardner. Either Gardner is underrated, or Bolden is overrated.

So, Penn State/Zombie Nation, you can have Robert Bolden. We’ll enjoy the best quarterback the state of Michigan has to offer (State fans, please don’t get started with the Boisture talk until he runs a 4.5).

Similar Posts:

• Putting Michigan’s Recruiting Class in Context
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Offense
• Wild Recruiting Weekend Recap
• The Denard Conundrum
• Recruiting Update: Part I (Early Enrollees)