Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman doesnt just lead the Irish offense he commands his new team
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – There was no singular moment when Sam Hartman stopped being the former Wake Forest quarterback and became the guy Notre Dame will look to to lead it to the College Football Playoff. Assimilation doesn’t work like that. Time doesn’t either.
Hartman committed to one offensive coordinator only to play for another. He arrived here to compete with one quarterback only to watch him bolt. And yet, for all those changes, going from Tommy Rees to Gerad Parker and watching Tyler Buchner decamp for Alabama, the Notre Dame experience is about what Hartman expected when he committed to it last winter.
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And that’s exactly what Notre Dame needs.
“I guess I’m settled in, but I think I’m always learning,” Hartman said. “There is never a day when you’re not seeing a new look, seeing a new play. That’s the great thing about this game we play.
“We always talk about a one-play, one-life mentality here. That’s the standard. That’s what I’m trying to grow on and figuring out how I can make this team the best it can be.”
Of the certainties around Notre Dame two weeks into preseason camp, starting quarterback may be the biggest. Not only are the Irish months removed from that wink-and-a-nod competition between Hartman and Buchner, but they’re to a point where Hartman doesn’t just lead the offense, he commands the team. Among the action items on Marcus Freeman’s offseason list, this may rate as the most impactful.
“It’s a really unique circumstance for a guy to come in and gain the trust and respect of the locker room right away,” said linebacker Jack Kiser. “Sometimes when a big guy comes in there’s competition, there’s challenge and the locker room doesn’t gravitate to you right away. I don’t think that was the case at all with Sam.”
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Hartman made a point to sound out Notre Dame’s veterans this summer to understand how the program functions. He’d pull Kiser or linebacker JD Bertrand aside to make sure he grasped how Notre Dame works. He watches film with sophomore Steve Angeli and freshman Kenny Minchey, helping the younger quarterbacks get caught up. During summer workouts, Hartman won a conditioning award in front of the team, presented by former head strength coach Matt Balis. These moments that can feel small at the time but can add up to something bigger over time.
Now Notre Dame is seeing that accumulation at the helm of the offense.
“He’s just naturally a leader. He makes sure everyone feels the energy. Defense, offense, whatever position you play, he’s gonna lead everyone, really,” said safety Thomas Harper. “The weight room, he’s talking and getting everyone hype, making sure everyone’s good. Team meeting, if he has something to say, he’s up there saying it. If we need an announcement, something’s going on with the team, we need to change something, he’ll get up there and announce it.
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“He’s really honestly like a Coach Freeman for the players.”
If this all goes according to plan, Hartman will pick up where he left off at Wake Forest, importing those 110 career touchdown passes and nearly 13,000 yards passing to Notre Dame without losing anything in translation. There’s reason to think it will happen that way from the glimpses of camp Notre Dame has offered, including last Saturday when Freeman called for best-on-best in a low red zone drill.
Hartman took the rep as receiver Jayden Thomas tried to beat Cam Hart for a touchdown in close quarters. Thomas got to the outside of Hart, setting him up for a back-shoulder ball. Not only did Hartman get the pass there on a line, but he got it there at the right moment. Good coverage was beaten by a better ball, the kind of pass Hartman made a career of completing at Wake Forest.
What quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli sees from Hartman now is what Rees expected when he recruited Hartman out of the portal last winter. Notre Dame’s starting quarterback sees the game like his offensive coordinator does. Calling plays is less about following directions and more about understanding why the directions were called in the first place. And that mental component is what Notre Dame hopes will pour gasoline on a flint-and-steel offense.
“We’ve got to see it the same way, and he’s relentless in his preparation,” Guidugli said. “So, he’s in my office all the time, watching film and just trying to, get on the same page. Like, ‘Hey, I’m seeing this. I would do this with protections. Is that what you’re seeing?’
“And then things will just pop up here and there, where I will say something, he’ll kind of already know where I’m going with it before I finish. So, I think we’re heading that direction.”
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That doesn’t mean Notre Dame will get there this week or next, or maybe not even by opening night in Dublin against Navy. But it’s impossible to watch Notre Dame’s practices and not come away impressed with the command of the starting quarterback who appears to be as comfortable in his own skin as the head coach leading the program. There’s no hyper analysis of accuracy (Tyler Buchner), arm strength (Drew Pyne) or personality (Jack Coan). Hartman has checked all those boxes, filling both the measurable of a QB1 and the intangibles.
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With roughly three weeks to go before kickoff of his only season at Notre Dame, the next step for Hartman is putting all those attributes to work in concert. There’s an earned optimism that he will. The only question is if the rest of the offense can keep up.
“His personality and his leadership, it’s been on the spotlight since Day 1,” Kiser said. “He can be the game-changer that he has been.”
(Photo: Robin Alam / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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