All week long, Brady Hoke publicly expressed confidence that Denard Robinson would be under center when Michigan took the field against Minnesota.
As it turns out, it was nothing more than a deft game of sleight-of-hand gamesmanship in which Hoke engaged. Or Robinson’s injury took a turn for the worse, one of the two.
Regardless, the Wolverines confirmed shortly before kickoff that Robinson has been ruled out of today’s game against the Gophers. In Robinson’s place will be Devin Gardner, the quarterback-turned-wide receiver who has spent the 2012 season at the latter position.
Gardner has yet to throw a pass in 2012, and is actually UM’s second-leading receiver with 16 catches for 266 yards and a team-leading four touchdown receptions.
Robinson suffered an elbow injury in the loss to Nebraska last week and was replaced by Russell Bellomy. The freshman completed just 3-of-16 passes and threw three interceptions, leading the UM coaching staff to pull the trigger on a Gardner move back to QB.