Scouting Report: Ex Buckeye Brian Hartline started Saturday night for the Dolphins
The AFC East is the land of tall CBs and even taller WRs. Miami is looking at the possibility of getting taller in their WR corps. Miami head coach Tony Sparano announced that Hartline would start Saturday night's game. The team liked Hartline not only because he was 6-2 but also because he runs crisp routes and has soft hands.
By Bill Smith
Hartline, drafted in the 4th round has moved ahead of 3rd round pick Patrick Turner (USC). Reportedly, Turner has struggled both to get open and to catch the ball in traffic. That is a bad combination. You are going to be in a lot of traffic if you don't run crisp patterns to get open.
Hartline did not have a ball come his way in the first two drives of Fins but he made his presence known in other ways. He pulled a vet move on former Buckeye Gamble. On the TD pass from Pennington to Brown, Hartline forced Panther CB Chris Gamble to push him into the LB that was supposed to cover Brown. As a result, Brown was wide open and got the TD. This is just one example of how Hartline and the other Buckeye rookies bring a sophisticated knowledge of the game to their new teams far beyond their years. On the next possession 3rd down he took a high pass down in front of 2 defenders inside the 5.
Both Hartline and Turner are battling each other and Greg Camarillo the starter last year who is coming back from injury in game 11. Davone Bess is 5-9 and will be the slot receiver but is not in the running for a starting spot.
Hartline got a chance to return a punt and did avoid 3 tacklers that got there at the same time as the ball. He is very versatile. He blocks well and runs very good patterns. He is particularly good at multiple moves on short patterns. That will be critical for the Dolphins because their passing game is focused on short and medium passes due to Chad Pennington's limited arm strength.
So far, Hartline has caught 2 passes, Turner has 6 and Camarillo has 2.