The Hartline Evolution

Or maybe that title should read revolution instead?  I can not remember a player moving so far on the popularity scale in the off season than that of Mike Hartline.  I am actually very happy for the kid.  I thought he took way too much heat last year.  He can probably thank Woodson, a lot.  After all, EVERYONE is looking at the changes Woodson made between his Sophomore and Jr years when they look at Hartline today.  He can thank Brooks who has gone to great lengths to keep the positive vibes flowing where his starting QB is concerned.  Brooks usually shoots it straight and there is absolutely no player that is going to please him every day in fall camp.  Yet Brooks has been very careful to avoid any critical remarks and I am sure I know why.  He has two very gifted players that simply are not ready and rightfully so.  He doesn’t need another season where the fans are ready to throw Hartline under the bus on the first dropped pass.  The need to throw Cobb in the mix last year underscores the dire need UK had at QB much more than Cobb’s ability to run an SEC offense.  That isn’t a knock on his talent by any means.  The kid is extremely special.  But the demands of running a pro style offense in college requires experience and repetitions far and away above what would be possible with an incoming true freshman.  And you simply do not tell the other 80 something players that you are going to change your system for a freshman.  Will Fidler was suppose to be ready to compete last year but several factors like shoulder surgery and an off the field situation set him back.   
 So how much further along will Hartline be when he takes the opening snap?  Its hard to say at this point but my guess will be that he hasn’t come that far at all.   He may be a little stronger, a little smarter and a little more accurate.  But I thought last year that all he needed was to be a little stronger, a little smarter and a little more accurate.  He was already quite smart and managed the game much better than any other QB in recent history.  The smarter part would be dealing with the other players and the media.  He had a decent arm and was able to thrown the out pattern.  He had major issues with his release point when trying to throw the same distance down the field so he would have done himself a major favor by working on his down field form.  He was actually quite accurate on his mid range passes.  His biggest issue last year was dropped passes.  Passes that should have been caught.  Passes to places that receivers should have been at but were not.  It could very well be that the biggest part of the Mike Hartline evolution could come in the form of receivers. 

While I do think Brooks may be holding up a tad when talking Hartline, I am quite certain that he is much more pleased with the offense at this point than he was last year.  The line is more solid, the runners are gifted, the receivers are producing and the QB position is set.  Now all they have to do is show us in a game.