Experienced Hartman leads Irish in final college season

Dec 11, 2023

College Sportswriter

Most humans have 24 ribs.

Sam Hartman does, too, but only 23 are inside his body.

Just prior to last season – his final season as the quarterback at Wake Forest – Hartman had surgery to remove a blood clot – caused by a malady called Paget-Schroetter disease – and, in order to avoid future clots, surgeons also removed his top rib. Over the summer, Hartman had the removed rib, which he saved for a while in his refrigerator, fashioned into a necklace.

Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman, who brought Hartman to South Bend for the quarterback’s final season of college football, believes the decision to keep a memento from his surgery is indicative of Hartman’s approach to life.

“Sam is a different guy,” Freeman said. “He uses those setbacks he’s had in his life as reminders, as motivation, as reasons to continue to fight and move forward. (The necklace) is almost like a scar for him, like a tattoo that reminds him of difficult times that he’s overcome.”

For five years at Wake Forest, parts of all of them spent as the starter, Hartman piled up myriad accolades and accomplishments. Playing in the “slow mesh” run-pass option offense pioneered by Demon Deacons offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero, Hartman threw more touchdowns (110) than any quarterback in ACC history and the 19th-most passing yards in the annals of FBS football (12,967). He helped perennial ACC doormat Wake reach five consecutive bowl games and win a school record-tying 11 games in 2021.

All of that would have been reason enough for Freeman to target Hartman in the transfer portal this offseason. The 6-foot-1, 212-pound signal caller was considered the best quarterback in the portal by 247 Sports and could become Notre Dame’s first superstar at quarterback since Jimmy Clausen.

Hartman opened the throttle on the offseason hype train when he went a surgical 13 of 16 for 189 yards and two touchdowns in the spring Blue-Gold Game.

“That’s what I expected,” Freeman said after the intrasquad scrimmage. “When we went out to look for a transfer portal quarterback, you don’t look for the second, third, fourth. You look for the best player in the country that would fit in your locker room. Sam Hartman showed today why he was extremely successful at Wake Forest, and I think will be extremely, extremely successful here.”

But Hartman brings more than stats and accolades to the Irish. As Freeman and his offensive staff have pointed out repeatedly during fall camp, Hartman has been “in the fire,” – to use offensive coordinator Gerad Parker’s parlance. He has experienced everything there is to experience in college football – including devastating setbacks like the surgery that threatened to derail his 2022 season – and learned to handle it.

It’s that maturity in the face of adversity that makes Hartman a perfect fit for the Irish offense, which is long on talent but short on veteran leadership. In the quarterback room, Hartman is the only scholarship player without freshman eligibility remaining. Among his receivers, two freshmen and a sophomore are set to contribute significantly.

It’s these players from whom Hartman has worked to earn trust in the offseason. After a recent practice in which the offense did not perform as well as it would have liked, Hartman gathered the unit to insist better days were ahead, which impressed sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather.

“Him just being that old – I don’t want to say old because I love him – that old voice, that old soul in the room and in the offense is great for us,” Merriweather said.

Not that Hartman came to Notre Dame as a finished product. He readily admits he wanted to play for the Irish because he wanted to learn. The quarterback has NFL dreams, but Wake Forest’s system is so unlike what the pro league runs he felt he was behind when it came to certain skills the NFL will require – skills as basic as taking a snap from under center.

“He might as well have been a freshman when he got here in January,” Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli said.

Hartman has worked this offseason to master the finer points of playing quarterback in Notre Dame’s pro-style offense in the hopes that executing it in games will make scouts more partial to him come draft season next spring.

Then, too, there was the allure of playing for one of college football’s top brands.

“I love playing football,” Hartman said. “I know that going to the NFL is a tough task, those are small percentages, but I do believe I can play in the NFL. I knew I had an extra year of eligibility, so why not take a shot at a new place and a new scheme? It’s Notre Dame, that answers itself with the history, the legacy that’s been left for our team to try to fulfill.

“I just wanted to come get another shot in college, Year No. 6 and try to make it happen.”

[email protected]

The Journal Gazette's 2023 College Football Preview includes overviews for Notre Dame, Trine, Manchester, Saint Francis, Ball State, Indiana a…

College Sportswriter