SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sam Hartman spent Saturday afternoon at Notre Dame Stadium turning himself into a human spoiler alert for the quarterback competition second-year Irish head coach Marcus Freeman still insists will continue in earnest for weeks, if not months.
“I don't want to downplay the performance Sam Hartman put on,” Freeman said after the 23-year-old Wake Forest transfer and the Gold team shredded the Blue, 24-0, in a Blue-Gold Game that was painstakingly structured through a player draft to equalize the talent quotient on each side.
“I just want to make sure that we look at this [through] a real lens.”
Look at it through a kaleidoscope if you want, but it’s hard to skew Hartman’s 13-of-16 passing for 189 yards, no interceptions, two passing TDs and a scoring run. In an intermittent wintry mix. Two days after the mercury soared past 80 degrees.
Of the other four quarterbacks who saw action Saturday only Gold backup Steve Angeli — the cult hero of the 2022 Blue-Gold Game — facilitated a scoring drive. That being a 28-yard Zac Yoakam field goal early in the fourth quarter to complete the scoring.
In fact, if you added the pass-efficiency rankings of Angeli, walk-on Dylan Devezin and the Blue’s Tyler Buchner and Kenny Minchey together, they still fell short of Hartman’s 221.7 — even if you didn’t count Devezin’s minus-100 rating.
“It was incredible,” Hartman told ND streaming partner Peacock of the experience of his second game ever in Notre Dame Stadium, following last Saturday’s closed scrimmage.
“The first time with the real gold helmets on,” he qualified. “I mean, it’s a credit to all the hard work we put in this spring. You start off with a new team, new place and come out here with this many people, this many fans, it was really fun. You play for those moments.”
But how many of them were real?
Sophomore linebacker Nolan Ziegler’s game-high 10 tackles? Freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse’s game-best 11 catches for 118 yards? Sophomore Tobias Merriweather’s one reception for one yard? Audric Estimé’s 20 rushing yards? Buchner’s 8-for-18 passing line for 44 yards and an interception?
“With Tyler, we didn't protect that well on that side of the ball with the Blue team,” Freeman said. “We had some dropped balls. And I told him I’ve got to take responsibility for the pick, because on third down, I went in there and I was trying to help, I was like, 'It's cover two! It's cover two!' And it ended up not being cover two.
“So, I said, ‘I'll take responsibility for the pick.’ [Buchner was] like, 'Yeah, you owe me one!' I said, 'Yeah, I'll take responsibility. I'll tell the media. Don't worry about it. I got this one.' So yeah, that was on me.”
In Freeman’s defense — not for the interception, but for filibustering a public declaration of the Irish QB at the top of the depth chart — Notre Dame spring games typically produce as many mirages as revelations. Maybe more.
Junior Jabbie anyone?
And really, given the dynamics of this particular QB competition, why wouldn’t Freeman want it to continue? Sam Hartman and Tyler Buchner didn’t just make each other better by pushing each other this winter and spring. They also did it by having each other’s back.
Buchner taught Hartman the nuances of the playbook, the old one and the new one. Hartman taught Buchner about fitting passes in tight windows. Buchner showed Hartman some new tricks to use with his feet. Hartman helped Buchner with his confidence in his deep passing game.
And truth be told, if you were in practice No. 9 of 15 — as the media was the entirety of it that day — Buchner looked like the No. 1 QB, and Hartman No. 2 in 11-on-11 situations.
“His practice 1 to practice 15 has been tremendously different,” Freeman said of Hartman. “But that's what it's all about, is the progression, is getting him better and improving. And that's what you see. He's consistently improved, gotten better and better.”
And Hartman will tell you Tyler Buchner is the No. 1 reason.
There were frustrating moments for arguably the winter version of the transfer portal’s No. 1 prize, starting with offensive coordinator/QBs coach Tommy Rees’ early February decision to bolt for a job with Alabama coach Nick Saban, which in turn pushed back by a month Hartman learning the playbook.
And once Gerad Parker was promoted to OC and Gino Guidugli poached from Wisconsin’s staff to be the QB coach, the new playbook was constantly evolving. It was newness stacked upon newness stacked upon more newness.
“I think just understanding what the coaches want from me and what the guys are doing,” Hartman said of his biggest spring breakthroughs. “I think you come in in the spring, and you’re just trying to learn people’s names, learn what building you need to go to, see what time you need to get to things, where your locker is, what color loop you’re wearing — all that stuff. And you take it for granted when you’re old in the program.
“Now being a young guy, I think it’s relying on my teammates. I think that’s another thing. The guys have just helped me so much. It’s, ‘You’re going there. You’re not in the right spot, whatever.’ And then it’s a real credit to Tyler. Tyler helped me a lot.”
And eventually the ACC’s most prolific thrower of touchdown passes (110) started to fit.
“He could have easily brushed me off or kept me out of the loop,” Hartman said, “and he’s been one of the main reasons I’ve had success today and had success this spring. He and I just understood it’s a competition, but there’s only one [No. 1 quarterback].
“And we just understood that hating each other and holding grudges on each other is not going to help. He set the precedent early, and I just kind of fed off him.
“We’re a little different in styles. I’m pretty intense. He’s a little bit more laid-back, but both good quarterbacks. And it’s just been cool to learn from him. I’ve played a lot of football and so has he, and it’s just been fun getting a new best friend on the football field.”
If Buchner doesn’t get itchy in the final week of the spring transfer portal window, he’ll be rooting on his new best friend when Notre Dame opens its 2023 season in Dublin, Ireland, against Navy.
And then opening the 2024 season Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas, against Texas A&M as the No. 1 QB option himself. Before spring football kicked off, Buchner was just one of several options in that projection and not necessarily the most likely one.
That’s how much the trajectory of both players elevated by how they chose to deal with the existence of the other on the Notre Dame roster this spring.
Ten-game starter in 2022 Drew Pyne, meanwhile, opted to hit the winter transfer portal the very first day it was open for business, back in early December, upon Freeman telling him the Irish hope to bring in a transfer portal quarterback to create depth and competition.
Before Hartman was even a rumor.
Pyne probably would be no higher than 3 at the end of this spring had he stayed, and yet the same might happen at Arizona State after the Sun Devils concluded their allotted 15 spring practices.
Freeman’s big-picture takeaway was Saturday was way more big-picture than the QBs. In short, overall the Irish achieved their spring objectives on both sides of the ball, but there is so much work to do and so much more improvement to chase in the coming months.
From the outside looking in on the first 14 practices, this is a team that appeared to raise its floor. And from watching Sam Hartman be, well, Sam Hartman in practice 15, a higher ceiling in the fall seems possible.
Even Freeman eventually wore down in his postgame press conference and acknowledged what might be ahead.
“When we went out to look for a transfer portal quarterback, you don't look for a second, third, fourth,” he said. “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 successful here.”
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