CatsPause.com - Quarterback Quandary: Hartline or Newton?

November 9, 2009

Matt May
CatsPause.com Senior Writer

Rich Brooks has been in the game of football long enough to know nothing gets fans or media to the edge of their seats quicker than an honest to goodness tussle at the quarterback. The glamour position elicits a reaction unlike that of any other spot on the field.

When the Kentucky coach responded to a question in the aftermath of the Cats' victory over Eastern Kentucky that Mike Hartline may be ready to return from a knee injury when the team travels to Vanderbilt this week, he knew all too well where things were headed.

"Quarterback controversy here we come!" Brooks said with a booming voice.

The veteran coach may have very well been accurately predicting the future. Hartline will practice this week in hopes of returning from a torn medial collateral ligament and torn cartilage in his left knee. If doctors clear him to play and the coaching staff is convinced he is not significantly hindered by the injury it could create quite a quandary as to whether Hartline or true freshman Morgan Newton starts in Saturday's critically important contest.

"We'll just have to judge and see," Brooks said at his Monday press conference. "I'm certainly not going to put Mike Hartline out there if he can't get out of his own way, let alone pull the ball down and run it if he has to. Having said that he's looked pretty last week, ran around (Sunday) and it bothered him a little bit but we feel like he'll be ready to go through a full practice (Tuesday) and see how it goes after that.

"He's going to have to be able to throw the ball accurately, manage the offense and hand off, sprint out, do the things our offense requires him to do without hobbling around or really favoring his knee."

The looming decision could certainly cause a major uproar around the program. Hartline started the first five games of the season and was in the midst of arguably the best performance of his career when his knee buckled under the weight of a South Carolina defender early in the second half of UK's 28-26 defeat on Oct. 10. Newton has started the four games since then, although he took split snaps with junior Will Fidler in the Auburn and Louisiana-Monroe affairs.

Fresh of being named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week, Newton now finds himself in a potential battle to keep the starting job. Brooks said he has been impressed with the Indiana native's progress in recent weeks.

"The Morgan Newton you saw Saturday is light years removed from the Morgan Newton you saw in the Auburn game and that progress has been evident to us in practice," Brooks said. "I see a guy that has always had some confidence but had trouble adjusting to the speed of decision making. He's always had an arm. This last Saturday because it didn't happen as fast as it would in a SEC game you saw tight spirals, rifle shots, much better accuracy and much better decision making. He has the potential to be as good as he wants to be or can be."

Whether Newton continues the learning process on the field or holding a clipboard this week may all come down to the health of Hartline's left knee.

Become a TCP premium subscriber and get more inside scoop on today's practice session in The House of Blue.

KENTUCKY at VANDEBRILT
When: 12:20 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 14
Where: Vanderbilt Stadium; Nashville, Tenn.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Big Blue Sports Network
Series: UK leads 39-38-4; Last Meeting: Nov. 15, 2008 - Vandy 31, @UK 24
Records: UK (5-4, 1-4); Vanderbilt (2-8, 0-6)

Matt May is the football beat reporter for The Cats' Pause. If you have questions or comments about the Cats e-mail him here.

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