The Case For Kendall Hinton to Start the Rest of the Season

It’s time to unleash him, guys.

First, I’d like to start this by saying I wish Sam Hartman the absolute best and a speedy recovery. I give him a lot of flack on twitter (@CamLemons_ shoot me a follow any and everyone) about his mistakes and tend to not give him enough credit when he did well.

As a true freshman QB, he put up some absurd stats, showed poise and promise, and very well could be the future star of Wake Forest. Get well soon Sam!

But for now the Deacs can’t dwell on losing Sam Hartman. There are, when healthy (and boy the injury bug has hit Wake hard) 4 QBs behind him. R-Fr Matthew Considine, R-Fr Tayvon Bowers, R-So Jamie Newman, and R-Jr Kendall Hinton.

Only one of these QBs can start and the option is obvious:

Kendall Hinton.

Let me start by saying this is not me being down on the rest of the QBs on the roster, I think they all have their talents (much more than me) and I’ve even gone on record by advocating Jamie Newman should start over Sam Hartman. However, scenarios have now been changed.

Wake Forest fell to 4-5 after losing to Syracuse on Saturday and now need to win 2 out of their next 3 in order to make their 3rd bowl game in as many years. The stakes are dire and this isn’t the time to be experimenting with someone who has limited game experience when the team needs to win now against NC State, Pittsburgh, and Duke.

Kendall Hinton is by far the most experienced QB on the roster by playing in 20 games over the last 4 years, completing 131-251 passes with 1,504 yards through the air, and 8 TDs and 7 INTs. He has also amassed 843 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.

When he finally finished his suspension earlier this season, Conor O’Neill (who you can also follow on twitter and I highly recommend following both him and Les Johns, they are great at what they do) got a very notable quote from Dave Clawson asserting Kendall Hinton is the second-most dynamic athlete on the team.

If the Deacs want to make a bowl, they need the player who supplanted twice #WhyNotJohn until injuries derailed him!

I will note that Kendall is... limited when it comes to throwing the ball. He throws a beautiful deep ball, and is pretty decent at intermediate throws. However when it comes to short throws, which Wake likes to throw because it helps the tempo offense, Kendall has shown he struggles with those mightily.

I am fine with him missing the short throws though. This team absolutely needs explosive plays. Outside of the Louisville game, what big plays have you seen the team make?

Even with Louisville this was the O-Line and Matt Colburn, and not a QB play. There hasn’t been a long breakout throw, catch, QB run for 70 yards at all this season. This team has lacked explosiveness and if they want to beat teams they aren’t going to be favored in, experience and explosion is how to do it.

Kendall Hinton is the man for the job, and he should be getting the start on Thursday, in what is primed to be a horrible decision for the ACC in allowing two teams to play five days after their last games.

What do you guys think? Yell at me below and/or on twitter

As always

Go Deacs.