Gardner wins Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award

Every year Big Ten schools announce the winner of a sportsmanship award for each sport. Most of the time it goes unnoticed.

This time it is different at Michigan, though, thanks to a photo that went viral in November. That was when Wolverines quarterback Devin Gardner was spotted offering consolation to Ohio State counterpart J.T. Barrett, who saw a record-breaking season cut short by a broken ankle in the second half of the Buckeyes' win over the Wolverines in the regular season finale.

Gardner's career in Ann Arbor was marked by ups and downs. He displayed great talent but also great inconsistency, sometimes succeeding and other times failing at dealing with a lot of uncertainty around him in two full seasons as the starting quarterback for the Wolverines.

His name won't be found on the All-Big Ten first team for his play, but he will be remembered as Michigan's male winner of the Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award for 2014-15.

And the photo of Gardner and Barrett assures that will not be forgotten for years to come.