Hartline post

Today comes the news that Mike Hartline is out for several weeks, if not the season, with a torn MCL, partially torn PCL and cartilage damage. The Kentucky quarterback drama has played out in an almost Shakespearean fashion. Fans have called for Hartline to be replaced for most of his career. I myself said last Friday that Brooks should give someone else time in the USC game if Hartline was laying an egg.

Of course, we know that isn't what happened. Hartline was playing the game of his life when fate intervened, his knee bent grotesquely underneath him on a play that should have been blown dead before it developed. Though not in the way any sane person had hoped for, many would get their wish that someone else would be playing quarterback for Kentucky by game's end.

Side note here: Corey Peters was quoted in the paper Sunday as saying that the fans had gotten what they'd wanted, which I read to mean that they wanted Hartline injured. I think that is a load of crap, and Brooks should not let his players blast the fans in the media like this. Unlike Tennessee fans and their boy Jonathan Crompton, I've never heard one person suggest he or she wanted to see Hartline hurt. He is a good kid who has done nothing but work hard. Wanting to see him replaced is a far cry from wishing for this.

So, if not Shakespeare, it is at least a Twilight Zone episode. An Alanis Morisette, if not textbook definition, version of irony. Karma for the fans. Call it what you will. I think it sucks, because even as someone who did not have a ton of confidence in Hartline, I knew that if Fidler or someone else went in and played poorly, the coaches could chalk it up as a failed experiment and put Hartline back in. That cannot happen now. Plus, I feel horrible for Hartline, a kid who has already had to put up with more than any recent Kentucky athlete not named Saul Smith.

So, what to do? Brooks has said, and I totally agree with him, that he is not going to go with Randall Cobb as a full-time QB. Too much is invested in the downfield passing offense, and Cobb is too valuable in his other roles. What do I think the staff should do? Drumroll . . . . .

I don't have the foggiest idea. And you know why? Because I have never seen Morgan Newton throw a pass except on ESPNU against a high school team, and unless someone surprising is reading this blog, neither have you. People have been calling for him all year, but the truth is, we have no idea how ready he is to play because we aren't at the practices. I trust this coaching staff to make the right decision about who is best to put on the field. My hope is, however, that they are willing to be flexible.

That is because another dynamic is at work here. I never played college football, but I've been on dozens of sports teams in every other imaginable level and something always rings true. While one can predict game success by how a player practices, it is never a certainty. Players disappoint and surprise daily.

The guess here is that Will Fidler starts under center Saturday. The staff won't want to put the pressure of a roadie against a stinging Auburn squad on a true freshman. If we are losing badly and Fidler struggles, the redshirt will come off and Newton finishes the game, then is your starter in what should be a confidence building turn against Louisiana Monroe. Cobb will have an expanded role at QB, and may take as many as half of the snaps, but the game will not get turned over to him completely unless both the other guys are abysmal.`

Unless Fidler can be successful, there is little to lose by playing Newton. Either he proves himself and competes for a job through the end of the year and into next year, or he is not near the quarterback Hartline is and redshirts next year while Hartline starts as a senior.

Like everything else with UK Football, though, it is never easy.