With QB1 Locked Up, Hartman Spent Offseason Winning Over Irish Teammates

Over the summer, the entire Notre Dame roster gathered inside the Guglielmino Athletics Complex auditorium. The team watched then-Notre Dame director of sports performance Matt Balis hand out awards based on offseason training achievements. 

At some point, Balis called out Sam Hartman’s name, which thrilled his teammates. Six months after arriving on campus in January, the sixth-year quarterback had won the admiration of his Fighting Irish brethren. 

“The reaction of his teammates told you that he has won the locker room,” Gino Guidugli said. “He'll be a great leader.”

Of course, Hartman is used to earning the locker room's respect. The Wake Forest coaching staff named him a three-time captain.

“Sam’s going to be Sam,” Guidugli said. “I don't think his personality has changed at all. I think he can be a little bit more vocal. Some of that’s with his relationships that he’s developed in the locker room, but also some of that's just the comfortability he's developed inside the offense.”

Does that mean he’ll wear a “C” on his jersey at Notre Dame? 

That’s hard to say. 

Jack Coan wasn’t a captain after transferring to Notre Dame from Wisconsin in 2021. 

Hartman has led stretch lines during all the fall camp practices open to the media, but Marcus Freeman may prefer to select those who’ve been on campus for over eight months. 

Either way, the Fighting Irish offense is poised to follow Hartman into battle this fall. It’s a reality that might’ve been different had the spring ended differently. 

Tyler Buchner’s Tuscaloosa departure expedited the process of Hartman becoming a leader inside the locker room. In the midst of a quarterback competition, it’s nearly impossible for either play to establish themselves as a leader without compromising unit chemistry. 

If Buchner had stayed, the competition would’ve carried into fall camp, taking growth and leadership opportunities from Hartman, the inevitable winner of the competition.

“It was maybe headed in that direction, but Tyler was having a good spring, too,” Gino Guidugli said. “Obviously, when you have decisions like that to make, that's going to affect your play, and I think it affected his play in the spring game at the end of the day — negatively.

“We knew eventually Sam was going to catch up as far as his understanding of the offense, and he was going to get comfortable.”

Additionally, Hartman threw thousands of passes to Notre Dame pass-catchers over the summer inside the Irish Athletic Complex without splitting reps with Buchner. 

On Saturday, the media saw Hartman’s chemistry with Jayden Thomas on back-shoulder throws, one of Hartman’s go-to passes and red zone weapons.

“Even talked when I got here he was going to be one of the special guys,” Hartman said.

He’s developed similar bonds with the entire receiver room. 

“[We’re] lightyears ahead,” Hartman said. “We were but we’re still far away from where we want to be. Every practice, every week we are going to grow and develop. I think all of us from the coaches down are learning, developing and growing. I think it’s been fun but challenging.”

On-the-field reps establish timing, but true bonds require more. 

“You kind of see the guys, who they are, all really special athletes and awesome individuals off the field too. Sometimes we get caught up in just football, football, football, but the relationships off the field make the ones on the field even more special. That’s what I focused on this summer.”

Hartman will continue to develop a rapport with his teammates as Notre Dame prepares to open the season again Navy in Dublin, Ireland, in three weeks. 

That’s when he’ll officially join a special club that also includes former starters like Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Tony Rice and Brady Quinn. 

“Talking to former quarterbacks, they say it doesn’t really hit you til you’re out of it,” Hartman said. “I think that first game day will be one of the ones where you see the magnitude, but you feel it when you travel. During the summer, I was out and about different areas and you see the Notre Dame emblem pretty much everywhere. 

“It’s a special place. There is a special feel every time you sing the fight song, see the stadium, see touchdown Jesus, the Golden Dome — all of that stuff.”

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Under Armour 2023 Aer Lingus College Football Classic Gear