Hartline Named Starting QB

"We feel like we have three quarterbacks we can win with in this league, we really do," Phillips said. "We told them that. That's a good problem to have but right now we feel like Mike Hartline gives us the best chance to win. He's been more efficient. He's playing faster than the other two and at this point he gives us the best chance to win. He was slightly ahead at all times, no question about that but not far ahead enough that we felt like we had to make a decision. It was very difficult, it really was. He gives us the best chance at this point in time, he might not in a couple of weeks, but he does now." - Joker Phillips

So, there you have it. Hartline is once again the starting Quarterback in his Senior campaign. Although Coach Phillips indicated that there will NOT be a rotation of Quarterbacks like we sometimes saw last season, he left open the possibility of another Quarterback taking over the position in "a couple of weeks". I tend to agree that Hartline gives us the best opportunity to win "right now". He's 2-0 against Louisville in his career including a win on the road, while the other two quarterbacks have not played against Louisville.

Hartline has proved that he is able to consistently beat all the teams that he is supposed to beat, and UK should beat the first three teams on their schedule. Kentucky fans also must not forget that Hartline threw for 139 yards and a touchdown in just one half against South Carolina before his season ending injury last year. He had the Cats going into the locker room with a lead and the Cats couldn't get it into the endzone without him in the second half, eventually falling 28-26 to the Gamecocks.

Once the Cats get into SEC play, on the other hand, I'm not sure Hartline gives us the best opportunity to win big in the SEC. He will get us to a fifth straight bowl game, but Joker obviously has higher goals and aspirations moving forward for this program. Morgan Newton won 2 SEC road games last season at Auburn and at Georgia. I'd expect Newton to get some quality second half PT against Western Kentucky and Akron. That will be his opportunity to prove that he could be the man going into SEC play, if things aren't clicking with Hartline. Talented Redshirt Sophomore Ryan Mossakowski appears to still be third on the depth chart.