NFL Combine is more than a beauty contest for quarterback Sam Hartman
INDIANAPOLIS — Sam Hartman can only hope that NFL teams are as interested in him playing quarterback as reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine were interested in his hair.
Hartman was told separately Friday he has the best hair in the 2024 NFL Draft class and was asked for a hair tip.
“Have a good mom,” Hartman said. “Have good genes.”
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Hartman was even asked how many dating opportunities he had to turn down in the NIL era. He wisely brushed that off with “no comments on that.”
The former Wake Forest and Notre Dame quarterback needs NFL scouts, coaches and front-office personnel to similiarly ogle at him during his on-field workout Saturday in Lucas Oil Stadium. The 6-foot-1, 209-pound Hartman had a decorated college football career, but he doesn’t belong on the short list of quarterbacks who can sit out the workout portion of the NFL Combine.
“I don’t know if I got a choice,” Hartman joked. “I think they’d send me home if I don’t do anything out there.”
Though Hartman set the ACC passing touchdowns record with 110 during five seasons at Wake Forest, he still has plenty of questions to answer about his NFL potential after an up-and-down season at Notre Dame. His final season of college football sort of mirrored the offseason he endured in transferring to Notre Dame.
Hartman was celebrated once he joined Notre Dame’s roster as one-year rental quarterback who could take the Irish offense to new heights under head coach Marcus Freeman. Then offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees left for Alabama a month into Hartman’s first semester with the Irish. That resulted in the promotion of tight ends coach Gerad Parker to offensive coordinator and hiring of quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli.
Guidugli, in particular, helped Hartman through that unexpected transition.
“He was great,” Hartman said. “His consistency, the way he kind of handled us and the transition, obviously, was a little of a shaky one when you get there and the OC leaves and everything kind of seems like it’s going downhill. But him and Free did an incredible job and Coach Parker showing the trust and letting me, one, be a part of it as well, the transition. But then just kind of easing all the stress and easing all the complications that could come in a rush.”
Hartman led Notre Dame to a 4-0 start to the season, then the offense started to show its warts in the next three games — a 17-14 loss to Ohio State, a 21-14 win at Duke and a 33-20 loss at Louisville. Notre Dame’s shot at a New Year’s Six bowl game ended with a 31-23 loss to Clemson. Hartman threw five interceptions and lost two fumbles in the losses to Louisville and Clemson. The Irish finished the regular season 9-3 with a commanding wins over Wake Forest and Stanford.
Hartman sat out the Sun Bowl, in which quarterback Steve Angeli stepped in to lead the Irish to a 40-8 victory. Parker wasn’t part of that game either. Troy hired him to be its head coach in December prior to the game.
Parker and Hartman reunited at the Senior Bowl in January.
“It was great to see him,” Hartman said. “He looked super happy to be down at Troy. I know he’ll miss Notre Dame. What he did for Notre Dame was incredible.
“I know me and him caught a lot of flack throughout the year — the wins, losses, bad offense, good offense. I think we both share the blame in that. And also we share the success. It’s a pretty surreal thing to go 9-3 and have what people say about him. I think he’s an incredible coach. Troy’s extremely lucky.
“He’s an incredible coach, but as often as it gets forgotten, he’s an incredible man. Him and his family and how he kind of taught everybody on that offense how to be a football player and also how to be a man off the field is just something that I’ll never forget.”
Hartman has had plenty of influences like that throughout his football career. Being at the combine alongside former North Carolina quarterback Drake Maye is a bit of a full circle experience for Hartman. Maye’s father, Mark, trained Hartman as a quarterback as he grew up in the Charlotte, N.C., area. Now Drake Maye and Hartman are separated by a conjoined hotel room wall as they prepare for the big stage in Indianapolis. Even if it’s hard for Hartman to see how much bigger the younger Maye (6-4, 230) has gotten than him.
The similar playing styles with which Hartman and Drake Maye play with can be credited to Mark Maye.
“The great thing about him is everybody’s important,” Hartman said of Mark. “He makes everybody feel like the most important person in the world. That’s something I tried to emulate growing up. Coach Maye is one of the best. As a person, more off the field, he impacted just how I go about my day to day. He impacts so many people that he doesn’t even realize. That’s the biggest part.”
Hartman also had nice things to say about Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson and offensive coordinator Warren Ruggiero. He left their program with an eye on NFL development at Notre Dame. Whether last season actually raised Hartman’s draft stock can be debated, but he knows how to sell his decision.
“Wake developed me so much. For five years they stood by me,” Hartman said. “Coach Clawson and Coach Ruggiero were just incredible for me. My teammates there were awesome. Got the opportunity with the COVID and the redshirt to kind of explore and see what was what. It kind of came down at the end of the year. It gave me an idea: Hey, maybe there’s something out there that I can go do. That was a part of like what you said, the pro-style offense. It was great.
“I think having two offenses under my system, getting under center, getting in and out of the huddle, playing with guys like Joe Alt, Audric Estimé, just kind of set the tone. Different things. Working on cadence. At a lot of schools you don’t do cadences. Working an NFL cadence and everything in between was incredible.
“Then Notre Dame itself. We’re close. It’s only 2 1/2 hours north. But the fan base. You see a little Irish right there. It’s just everywhere. The place changed my life. I’m forever grateful for South Bend.”
Hartman finished last season ranked No. 14 in the FBS with a passing efficiency of 159.5. He completed 63.5% of his passes (191-of-301) for 2,689 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
The Irish will likely replace that production with former Duke starting quarterback Riley Leonard, who transferred to Notre Dame this offseason. Hartman, who waited for Leonard to exit the injury tent from a high-ankle sprain suffered at the end of Notre Dame’s win at Duke, connected with Leonard throughout the process.
“Just enjoy it,” Hartman said of his advice for Leonard. “It goes by really, really fast. It’s an unbelievable opportunity to be the quarterback at Notre Dame. It’s something I’ll never take for granted. You just have to enjoy it. By the snap of your fingers, he’ll be standing right here doing this and he’ll be like, ‘Where did the time go?’ Just enjoy it.”
That’s what Harman is trying to do this week in Indianapolis, too. He wants to show his athleticism and quarterback traits in Saturday’s workout. He’s looking to be accurate, throw the ball on time and complete passes with velocity. But most importantly, whether it’s on the field or in meetings with NFL personnel, Hartman wants to show confidence. And not just in his hair.
“If you go out there and you know what you’re talking about and you’re efficient and smooth — a lot of it’s situationally we’re getting questioned and then memorization,” Hartman said. “You just want to make sure that they know that, one, this is ball. Ball is your life. And everything you do is about football.
“Then on top of it, you’re confident. You can go into a room and be able to adapt, adjust and take command of an offense.”
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