Before last week, nobody outside his former Kentucky teammates had ever heard of Wilber Hackett, Jr., and the current SEC ref wishes he could slip back into obscurity. That will take a few more days. For the time being Hackett is a YouTube sensation. The video of him tackling South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia has gotten over 2 million hits and coverage on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ESPN…heck, he even got a shoutout on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
The setup went this way: With their redshirt freshman quarterback leading a late first-half drive, the Gamecocks got to the LSU five yard line when Garcia called his own number. He cut back when a hole opened up on the left side, and it looked like he would score. That’s when the umpire, Hackett, a former Kentucky linebacker, slid into the gap and stuck a shoulder into the “5” on Garcia’s jersey. He didn’t take the 20-year-old down, but it slowed him enough for LSU safety Curtis Taylor to make the tackle.
The web has been ablaze with conspiracy theories and calls for Hackett’s head. He was clearly trying to get out of the way of some burley LSU defensive linemen who were bearing down on him, but when Garcia cut his way, the old linebacker instincts took over the Hackett stuck his shoulder in the “5” on Garcia’s jersey. Thankfully, it didn’t affect the game. South Carolina scored three plays later. But it was a heck of a hit.
“He got in good position, but he didn’t wrap up,” Les Miles said afterward. That earned some laughs. No word on whether Miles bought Hackett a Bud Light afterward.
The real story to come out the South Carolina / LSU game was the emergence of Garcia, a talent that has been hidden on Steve Spurrier’s bench for most of the year. In addition to completing 14 of 26 passes for 215 yards, the 6’1” 220-pound quarterback scrambled for one 20-yard run and showed a lot of mobility in the backfield. The problem has been his off-field antics. Garcia was arrested three times in 15 months: twice for underage drinking and once for discharging a fire extinguisher.
A little more maturity and experience, and Spurrier might have another sensation behind center. Until then, Garcia will have to live with being a YouTube superstar.