Devin Gardner Injury: Updates on Michigan Star's Status and Return

Michigan quarterback Devin Gardner left Saturday's game against Penn State in the third quarter after limping off the field with an unknown injury.

Derek Levarse of the Times Leader had the report:

Gardner would return, per Michigan football's Twitter:

After the game, MLive's Nick Baumgardner had an update on Gardner:

Gardner, a senior who was expected to break out in 2014, has had an up-and-down season. He threw for three touchdowns and no interceptions while hitting on 13 of 14 passes against Appalachian State to start the season. A week later he self-imploded to the tune of three interceptions and zero points in an embarrassing loss to Notre Dame.

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The fits and starts of Michigan's offense have left some in Ann Arbor ready to move forward with the highly touted Shane Morris—just not the Wolverines coaching staff.

"The backup quarterback is always the most popular guy in town, and Shane has done a tremendous job," offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier told reporters. "I said, leading up to the Notre Dame game, he had an exceptional week of practice and had another great week last week and continues to get better and better. I believe Devin is, too."

Garner was able to rebound from his Notre Dame nightmare for a solid outing against Miami (Ohio) and has been putting up the best passing numbers of his career. He's setting career bests in completion percentage and has a solid yards-per-attempt average despite Michigan's lack of downfield production. 

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That said, it will be interesting to see if Gardner returns to a starting job when he's fully healthy. It was this time two years ago that Denard Robinson found himself in a similar situation—his injury (which sapped his arm strength) and inconsistencies throwing the ball gave the starting job to Gardner, who has held it for the last two seasons.

Morris is a homegrown talent out of Warren, Michigan, and was one of 2013's most highly sought-after quarterbacks. He was the third-best pro-style quarterback in the nation behind Max Browne and Christian Hackenberg, the latter of whom has already made a massive impact in the Big Ten.

With Brady Hoke sitting directly on the hot seat, he may choose to sell fans and alumni on the future. Morris and running back Derrick Green were the two shiny new faces in an impressive 2013 class that some thought could turn around the program. Green has begun living up to the hype after a difficult freshman campaign; perhaps Morris will do the same. 

Either way, Gardner's injury is going to make an already murky situation even more uncertain going forward.

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