page_title: Devin Gardner
section_title: 2012 season
hierarchical_section_title: Devin Gardner / College career / 2012 season
caption_attribution_description: English: Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson throwing to Devin Gardner during warmup before the UMass game
context_page_description: Devin Jaymes Gardner is a former American football quarterback. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New England Patriots.
  Gardner was the starting quarterback for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 2012 to 2014. Early in the 2013 season, Gardner was awarded Tom Harmon's Michigan Football Legends jersey, becoming the first Michigan player to wear No. 98 in over 70 years. Through the first seven games of the 2013 season, Gardner had 1,779 passing yards, 660 rushing yards, and 22 touchdowns. On October 19, 2013, Gardner broke John Navarre's Michigan single-game record with 503 passing yards. He also broke Denard Robinson's Michigan single-game record with 584 yards of total offense.
  As a high school senior, Gardner was rated as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the United States by Rivals.com and the No. 5 quarterback by ESPNU. He enrolled at the University of Michigan in January 2010 and saw limited action in the 2010 and 2011 seasons. During the first half of the 2012 season, he converted to the wide receiver position, but switched back to quarterback after Denard Robinson sustained an elbow injury.
context_section_description: In Gardner's third season, he was converted to wide receiver. Through the first four games of the season, he was the team's leading receiver with 11 receptions for 195 yards and three touchdowns.
  Following an injury to Denard Robinson's throwing arm in the eighth game of the season against Nebraska, Gardner returned to the quarterback position. He received his first start as Michigan's quarterback against Minnesota on November 3, 2012. Gardner ran for a touchdown and completed 12 of 18 passes for 234 yards and two touchdowns as Michigan defeated the Golden Gophers, 35-13. Four of the touchdown drives were longer than 75 yards.
  In his second start at quarterback, Gardner led Michigan to a fourth-quarter comeback and a 38-31 overtime victory against Northwestern. He ran for 47 yards and two touchdowns and completed 16 of 29 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns. With two seconds remaining in the game, Roy Roundtree caught a 53-yard pass from Gardner to set up a game-tying field goal. Gardner scored the winning touchdown in overtime on a one-yard run.
  In the final home game of the 2012 season, Gardner accounted for a career-high six touchdowns in a 42-17 victory over Iowa. Gardner completed 18 of 23 passes for 314 yards and three touchdowns.  He also rushed for 37 yards and scored three touchdowns. Gardner became the second quarterback in Michigan history to account for six touchdowns in a game, Steve Smith having accomplished the feat in 1981 and again in 1983.
caption: Denard Robinson passing to Gardner.
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