Two football Cats made ESPN blogger Chris Low's
list of most improved players in the SEC. Mike Hartline and Chris Matthews were mentioned on the list of ten and here's what Mr. Low had to say about two of our offensive heros from this season:
7. Kentucky senior quarterback Mike Hartline: The suspension for the bowl game was unfortunate, but it doesn’t diminish what was a brilliant senior season for Hartline. He’d been plagued by inconsistency throughout much of his career and had the knee injury as a junior, but passed for 3,178 yards and 23 touchdowns while completing 66.2 percent of his passes this season.
8. Kentucky senior receiver Chris Matthews: In his first season at Kentucky after coming over from junior college, Matthews showed flashes. But this season, he emerged as one of the most productive receivers in the league. He was second only to South Carolina’s Alshon Jeffery with six touchdown catches against SEC competition.
Danny Trevathan could've been mentioned as a player who showed improvement but Chris Low is saving Trevathan for his "SEC Players Who Made Every Tackle For Their Team" list.
Some NFL mock drafts project Matthews going as high as the fifth-round in the NFL Draft. I expect an NFL team to give Mike Hartline an opportunity as an undrafted free agent because of his size and his ability to check down to the running back. We wish both of them the best.
Go Cats.
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