BuckeyeGrove.com - Hart of a champion

March 30, 2005

Jeremy Crabtree
Rivals.com Football Recruiting

To be an elite college quarterback some times you have to have a certain attitude to go along with great physical tools. You have to be confident in your abilities. You have to be fiery and cool under pressure at the same time.

And to be brutally honest ? you have to be cocky.

Those are all things that Canton (Ohio) GlenOak quarterback Michael Hartline brings to the table, and that's why he'll be one of the nation's top quarterbacks in the class of 2006.

"My players know that I can get it done," Hartline, who is a 6-foot-6, 185-pound gunslinger that has already picked up scholarship offers from Michigan State and Kent and is also getting major attention from Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State.

"They know that I'm a standup guy that people look to for help, and I'm going to deliver. I consider myself great with helping, talking to my teammates about what I'm seeing and knowing what is going on. My teammates know that I'm going to be the leader of the team, and they have my respect. They know I'm going to get the job done."

Getting the job done with his physical ability has never been a problem for Hartline.

As a sophomore, he passed for more than 1,200 yards and completed 55 percent of his passes. Then as a junior, he led his team to a 7-3 record and a birth in the state playoffs. Along the way he threw for more than 2,400 yards and 15 touchdowns and completed 56 percent of his passes.

"My coaches think I have natural ability, and I've been able to learn things quickly," Hartline said. "I've learned different drops, schemes and what to do when I'm under the center. We throw a lot out of the shotgun, and getting under the center is something new that I've been learning. That's the one thing that helps me the most ? I'm able to learn and adapt.

"I'm good at making adjustments. That's what sets me apart."

His leadership skills also set him apart.

"I'm not afraid to get mad or to get in somebody's face," Hartline said. "I'm all about emotion on the field. Everybody knows that I can get mad at you when you don't do your job right. I'm not afraid to get on them and show them what they're doing wrong. I've come to a position where I go out there and take care of business on the field and make sure that everybody else does, too."

Yet, Hartline knows that he's not perfect. But with perfect quarterback bravado, Hartline sees areas of improvements as things he needs to work on instead of weaknesses.

"I would like to get more balance in my game," Hartline said.

"I'm a great believer in having your run offense setting up your passing offense. I wouldn't mind being under center more. We're usually in the gun, and that kind of puts a lot of stress on me, but I'm also comfortable in that situation. I've really improved my feet and improved my drops. I would like to depend more on the run, but the run haven't been part of our offense yet.

"We run a complex offense that has a lot of schemes and patterns that high school teams don't understand or comprehend. I haven't run into something that hasn't tricked me or been difficult. I'm start about things, and I know one of the things that will make me a better quarterback would be more balance."

Questions about balance in Hartline's recruiting process have already been coming at him left and right. Most assume that if Ohio State offers a scholarship then that is where he's going. With his older brother, Brian Hartline, heading to Columbus, he hears the Ohio State recruiting pitch every day of the week.

"The only advice he's giving me is to go to Ohio State," Hartline said with a chuckle. "It's really kind of hard for him to give me too much advice since we're coming from two different positions. He's a receiver, and I'm a quarterback. Schools only recruit one quarterback, and that means that I have to make my decision early and find that right fit.

"Ohio State, Notre Dame and Michigan are right up there at the top. Those are like dream schools to me, and who wouldn't want to go to a place like there. Michigan State offered me a few weeks back, and Kent State offered me early in the process.

"That's the one thing that's unfair about being a quarterback. I'm just 16-years-old, and I'm going to have to decide the entire rest of my life here in the next few months."

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