LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) – Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline laid on the ground, the roars of Commonwealth Stadium rattling around his helmet as teammate Randall Cobb celebrated the game-winning touchdown with 75 seconds remaining against South Carolina last Saturday.
Then the normally reserved QB did something very un-Hartlinelike: He let loose.
For a good 10 seconds the senior pumped his arms and legs in the air, as three seasons of criticism, second-guessing and consternation drifted away.
Hartline blushes at the memory. More than one friend has grabbed him in the last few days to show him the video.
“It’s just a momentary thing, sometimes stuff happens you wish you didn’t do,” he said with a laugh. “It looks a little childish and everything, in the end I’m happy that it happened.”
So are his teammates, who have spent the last two seasons steadfastly defending Hartline’s solid if not always spectacular play.
He knows he doesn’t have the arm of former Kentucky quarterbacks Andre Woodson and Tim Couch or the swagger of Jared Lorenzen. He knows there’s a faction of fans who have spent the last three years pointing to all the things he can’t do.
Hartline has done his best to drown it out. And he’s responded by playing the best football of his career while making the Wildcats (4-3, 1-3) one of the top offenses in the conference.
His picturesque touchdown pass to Cobb was his fourth of the day. His 349 yards against the Gamecocks were a career high. Heading into Saturday’s game against Georgia (3-4, 2-3), Hartline is second in the SEC in passing yards per game and South Carolina defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson called him the conference’s best dropback passer.
Heady territory for a guy that’s had to earn the starting job in each of the last three training camps.
Head coach Joker Phillips called it “very gratifying” to see Hartline flourish and noted his quarterback hasn’t been the only one taking shots from the fans for his play.
“I was taking some heat for naming him the quarterback,” Phillips said. “It’s gratifying to me, that’s for sure. I’m happy for him though. All the things that he’s been through here, for him to keep working, keep his confidence, and the thing is the team believed in him.”
The lengthy road to respect hasn’t been easy. Hartline earned the starting job his sophomore year only after Jacob Pulley was dismissed from the team when camp started. He eventually lost the job to Cobb, however, and then went public with his disagreement over the decision.
He later apologized and acknowledges it took awhile for some of his teammates to come around.
“It’s just one of those tough times,” he said. “What mends that is a lot of hard work, a lot of time and that you’re in this for the long run.”
Hartline showed signs of improvement last fall before a knee injury suffered in a loss to South Carolina effectively ended his season. Freshman Morgan Newton played well enough in his place that Hartline had to fend off another challenge this summer during camp.
He won the job – again – but the call was meet with raised eyebrows in some corners even as Kentucky’s offense took off. He’ll likely end his career in the top five in passing yards at Kentucky and has proven to be a deft decision-maker who isn’t afraid to take a hit.
“It has been a pretty special senior year for him right now,” said Georgia coach Mark Richt. “He’s just played superbly all year. I had the chance to watch most of that (South Carolina) game and he just played his tail off.”
That hasn’t always been enough for some fans. Hartline has done his best to take the criticism in stride, though his older brother Brian – a wide receiver with the Miami Dolphins – knows it hasn’t been easy.
“It’s such a roller coaster at Kentucky,” Brian Hartline said. “They have passionate fans. Sometimes their passion overtakes reality and things can be said. I’ve been told they were booing the whole first half at that game. Then all of a sudden they love their team by the end of the game. That kind of support is never great, but it is what it is and Mike embraces it and he loves his fans. As far as letting it affect him, he won’t let that happen.”
He knows he can’t. And while he isn’t ashamed of his uncharacteristic outburst against the Gamecocks, he knows it will become a distant memory if he can’t back it up against the Bulldogs.
Offensive coordinator Randy Sanders credits the off-the-field backlash against Hartline for helping his toughness on it. Hartline knew he was going to get drilled a split-second before he lofted the touchdown pass to Cobb. He took it anyway and was rewarded with the sweetest moment of his career.
“It makes you more humble and makes you aware of all the crap that can happen and makes you not want to go back there,” he said. “When you’ve worked as hard as you have to get where you are now, you want to keep that up and you don’t want to take a step back.”
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AP Sports Writers Charles Odum in Athens, Ga., and Steve Wine in Miami contributed to this report.
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