Hartline

With the benefit now of a little bit of hindsight, I want to talk today about Joker's decision to got with Mike Hartline as the starting quarterback in the opener against Louisville. Since Mike played well in that game (very well, if you ask me), the debate has died down a bit. You know as well as I do that if UK starts collection three and outs like baseball cards in the next two weeks, or Hartline throws a couple of bad picks against Florida, things are going to pick back up again. So, with very little of substance to say about Saturday's game, now seems like a good time to explore it.

When the decision was announced, the reaction from UK fans was basically split in thirds. Some, like me, accepted that Hartline won the job though even many of those people were sceptical. Many people were disappointed that Morgan Newton was not named the starter. After all, he was 5-3 last year as a true freshman starting in the SEC, and came into the program with a lot of hype. There was still a third faction who insisted that Ryan Mossakowski was the future of the program, and needed to be installed as the starter immediately.

What I never understand about this debate is how anyone unconnected with the the football program can pretend to know what Joker should do. With the exception of the first fall scrimmage (which I saw and didn't glean much from) no one has seen these players practice since spring. Not even the media. What we have to go on is the player's histories, that is about it. Reasonable minds might differ about who played better last year, Newton or Hartline, but for people to act as if Joker is missing something obvious by not starting Newton seems like a stretch.

Last year Morgan Newton signed my son's UK shirt the night before the Music City Bowl. I still have a picture of it on my phone. Newton shows up and keeps score at Eastern Little League games, I suppose because he is hanging out with Sam Simpson, whose family is a fixture at Ecton Park. There aren't too many quarterbacks who are best buddies with reserve offensive linemen. My point is that you'll won't find a bigger Morgan Newton fan than me. But the idea that he clearly outplayed Mike Hartline when he took the field last year is absurd.

Yes, Newton was 5-3 as the starter, but that isn't really the whole story. First, two of the wins were against EKU and Louisianna-Monroe. Newton started in the huge win against Auburn, but was only 5 of 13 and gave way to Will Fidler in the second half. In a win against Vandy, he threw for fewer yards than RB Derrick Locke, who completed a 41 yarder to Newton on a trick play in the third quarter. Newton did have a signature game against Georgia, throwing for three TDs in a huge road win. Even still, he threw for less than 150 yards, and a lot of the damages on his throws was done after the catches. In fairness, he is also a better runner than Hartline and obviously there would have been something to gain by starting a sophomore as opposed to a senior. Still, the idea that his play in 2009 earned him the right to the job carries no weight.

The win against Louisville this past week aside, Hartline was a mediocre 8-6 as a starter. But if you look at the 6 losses, that record is better than it sounds. Four of the losses were to Alabama and Florida. If I'm not mistaken, each of those game was contested while the other team was in the top 3 in the nation. The other losses were to South Carolina, and I firmly believe that UK would have won last year's game in Colombia had Hartline not been injured shortly after halftime. In fifteen career starts, he's never been the goat.

Mike was given a helmet sticker by Reece Davis on ESPN after throwing 2 TDs in the last five minutes against Arkansas in 2008, was SEC Offensive Player of the Week against Middle Tennessee State that same year and led the Cats to a second half comeback in the Liberty Bowl. He has had his moments.

Those who insisted Mossakowski should start don't merit a whole lot of discussion. They are the same ones who insisted Newton was better than Hartline without ever having seen him throw a pass in early 2009. These people are convinced a bird in the bush beats two in the hand. All I know if this: If the coaching staff thought he was the best guy for the job, he'd be throwing the ball.

I've been critical of Mike Hartline's ability in this space before. He certainly has a ceiling as a QB. He cannot make every single throw, cannot zip the ball into tight spots and makes his share of mistakes when facing a good defense. But he has done everything he was supposed to do to get himself into this spot, never embarrassed himself or the program and isn't exactly stopping off a UK on his way to NFL glory. Why he has become such a lightening rod over the last three years is puzzling. Is he a good MAC quarterback thrust into being a three year starter at an SEC school? Perhaps. But all that means is that he is better at it than you are, but not as good as Ryan Mallett. That doesn't make him a bad guy, it just makes him a like 99.9% of the other people in the world.

Mike Hartline deserves to hear cheers in Commonwealth tomorrow and throughout the season. Unless things go horribly awry in the few weeks, he is going to be your guy this year. Lets embrace him, because whether you are in his camp or not, it doesn't make sense to do much else.