What does Michigan do with Denard Robinson in 2010?

The news that highly-touted high school recruit Devin Gardner has enrolled early at Michigan has spurned a lot of discussion about the quarterback position at Michigan. Many think he’ll be competing for the starting job, and quite possibly could be too talented to keep off the field in 2010, even if a redshirt year gives Gardner an extra season of distance between himself and Tate Forcier. Others think that, no matter what, Gardner should be redshirted.

The man few can agree about, meanwhile, is sophomore quarterback Denard Robinson. After getting beat out by Forcier for the starting role last year, Robinson alternated between sound barrier-breaking dual threat (see: Western Michigan) and frustratingly inaccurate turnover machine (final 2009 stats: 14-31, 188 yards, 2 TD, 4 INT). The question is, then, is Michigan comfortable with Robinson as their backup/situational quarterback in 2010, or is the reward of playing Gardner greater than the risk of his redshirt year? And, if Gardner does step in and play at quarterback, where does Michigan play Robinson?

It’s obviously far too early to have any definite answer to these questions — Gardner just arrived on campus this weekend and hasn’t taken a collegiate snap, and nobody can tell how far Forcier and Robinson have progressed until spring practices are in full swing. It’s never too early, however, for speculation, so let’s take a look at what Michigan can do with Robinson this season:

1. Backup/situational QB — Michigan can choose to play Robinson in the exact same role they had him playing in 2009, serving as an insurance policy for Forcier while also taking snaps as a change-of-pace quarterback. If, after spring and fall practices are complete, the coaching staff thinks this is the best place for Robinson, I would call this the best-case scenario — it means that the staff is comfortable with Forcier as the starter, and with Robinson as a reliable backup, giving Gardner a year to learn the offense and an extra season on the back end of his collegiate career. Make no mistake; this coaching staff will not let something as trivial as a redshirt year determine how they use Gardner — they know the most important thing is to win, and to win now. If this is how the situation plays out, it will be because having Forcier and Robinson handling quarterback duties give the team the best chance to win.
2. A little bit of everything — Robinson did play a few snaps in 2009 as a slot receiver and running back, but did not play at either position enough to pose much of a threat as anything other than the gimmicky, trick-play sort. With a full season plus spring practice under his belt, however, Robinson could begin to learn these positions and develop into a jack-of-all-trades, on top of being the backup QB. This is an interesting possibility, but also has a few flaws. First, if Robinson is in fact the backup quarterback, I think Michigan fans will all want him to give his full attention and practice time to developing at the position. After all, if Forcier goes down for any length of time, Michigan will need Robinson to be much further along at QB than he was last season. Second, it’s risky to have your backup QB (Forcier’s insurance policy) subjecting himself to injury at positions where Michigan already has several capable players. I like the idea of Robinson seeing the field as an athlete, but I also like having a backup QB in one piece.
3. Full-out position switch — It’s tough to watch Robinson at QB and not think that his tremendous athletic ability (just check out his most recent exploit: running a 6.81 60-meter dash to win against OSU in his first collegiate track meet) is somewhat wasted there. Many fans are clamoring for Robinson to be used like former Florida Gator Percy Harvin, who lined up at receiver and running back (and occasionally took direct snaps) while terrorizing SEC defenses for the Gators’ national championship squad. If Gardner is the real deal, and Rich Rodriguez can’t help but let him see the field in 2010, then this is where Robinson belongs. There are issues here as well, however: Michigan’s depth at receiver and running back are both strong, and Robinson would have to learn a new position. This is where it helps that Gardner is enrolling early — if DG shows in spring practice that he’s a better quarterback already than Robinson, the staff can start Robinson’s transition to another position earlier, and give him a better shot at making a big impact in 2010.
4. Robinson to defensive back — Out of everything here, this is the least desirable option, in my opinion. Yes, Robinson was recruited by Florida to play defensive back. Michigan has recruited a ton of DBs in the last couple classes, however, and there’s no guarantee that Robinson would ever see significant time on defense, especially since he’ll have to learn a whole new system and position partway into his college career. Also, Robinson is the type of explosive athlete you want to see with the ball in his hands. Unless something catastrophic happens in the defensive backfield, this should never happen.

The quarterback battle as a whole, and what Michigan decides to do with Robinson specifically, may be the biggest story for Michigan in the offseason. I haven’t even mentioned the other quarterback in Michigan’s 2010 class, South Carolina dual threat Conelius Jones, who will be enrolling in the fall, although I don’t expect him to compete for immediate playing time. Robinson is a special athlete with the talent to be a game-breaker on offense — the question, of course, is where exactly he can have the biggest impact. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see.

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