9/19/2023 football Edit

Transcript from Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman's press conference for ND-OSU

Notre Dame Sam Hartman (10) and the Irish face the No. 3 team nationally in total defense on Saturday night in Ohio State. (Jeff Douglas, Inside ND Sports)

Eric Hansen • InsideNDSports

Publisher

On Monday, Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman met with the media for 15 minutes at Notre Dame Stadium to help preview Saturday night's clash between No. 9 Notre Dame (4-0) and No. 6 Ohio State (3-0). Here’s everything he had to say.

Answers are largely verbatim. Questions have been edited at times for brevity and/or clarity.

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Q: Does this feel like the biggest football game of your college career or where does it rank for you?

Sam Hartman: “Yeah, it’s a big game. Obviously, College GameDay or whatever you want to call it. I think it’s a huge opportunity for us as a program and as a team to go out there and show what we’ve got. Obviously, a really challenging opponent historically. A great opponent, a great football program and another, like ourselves, is a great football university.

“So, I think this is a classic of two football greats that, growing up, you kind of think about and look at those games, Ohio State and all the other big ones, you’re like, ‘That would be a cool game to play in.’ It’s exciting. It is a big game. I think to shy away from that is foolish, but I think it’s going to be like every week. It’s going to be about us executing at the highest level and, like coach [Marcus] Freeman probably already said, reaching our full potential.”

Q: You didn’t grow up in this part of the country, so I’m curious what it means to be a part of something like this Notre Dame-Ohio State rivalry?

SH: “I think it’s big for the university, big for our team and this season. Obviously, the road to the finish line leads through this game, and really every game for us. But obviously, it’s a big challenge. It’s going to be a huge crowd, a huge ordeal here with College GameDay and everything included. But we’re going to try and keep our blinders on as much as we can and understand that it’s going to be one play, one life.”

Q: Maybe Notre Dame needs you here to play in a game like this one Saturday. So, how do you stay in just being Sam Hartman and not trying to be Superman in what you’re going to be facing on Saturday?

SH: “I think it starts with the confidence in our coaches, the confidence in the schemes that we’re going to get into and the players around me. I think we have an unbelievable O-line that I have a lot of confidence in. Our running backs have all been playing incredibly well. Tight ends have been doing great. Outside we’ve shown we have some explosive capabilities and the ability to spread the ball around when we need to and to be able to run the ball when we can. So, that’s really where it is.

“On our defense, we’ve been playing a lot of complementary football. You look at the NC State game, there were times where we got shut out or they let up a score, and we kind of bounced back off each other. It’s always going to be about me doing my job the best I can do, and the plays are going to come when they need to be. It’s a lot of trust — the trust and belief that everyone around me is doing their job, which they’ve been doing all year and we’ve been doing since the spring. So, it’s an exciting opportunity to go out as a team and play a complete game.”

Q: This week is already different for you, since you’re standing here talking to us. Normally what would you be doing on a normal Monday at 12:30 instead of talking to the media?

SH: “Probably eating lunch — 12:30 is probably lunchtime. So, probably eat lunch. I had to eat that pretty quickly. Then we’re back. I have a lift at 1:30 and then run to team meetings and then practice from there. Later on, watching film, studying, getting ready for the game.”

Q: When you have the experience you have, how do you feel it tangibly comes out compared to when you were a young quarterback playing in games like this? How does it actually help you once the game starts?

SH: “I think you feel all the same emotions, because you want to succeed, you want to play well, and I think that’s like everyone in this room. If you have a big due date or a big, important deadline to hit, you feel the nerves. You feel the excitement or you feel whatever you feel. A lot of it is just the want to be the best, to have success and prove people right or wrong in whatever regard.

“I think a lot of it revolves around the confidence I have walking in the Gug with the people that are around me, starting with coach Freeman down to the very bottom. I think that’s where I find it, so that’s kind of what I rely on. Experience is experience, but every play you play is going to be different than the last. And so, it’s just going to be about trusting the guys around me and knowing that the support group around me is really, really talented, and they believe in me and I believe in them.”

Q: Do you have an early read on the Ohio State defense?

SH: “I think where it starts with them is their ‘quarterbacks’ of their defense, their linebacking corps, they have two really stout players that have played a lot of football. Obviously, it really encompasses their front seven. A lot of experience, a lot of talent there. Their secondary brought back a lot of guys from last year that are all extremely talented. We know we have a challenge on our hands. They do a lot of things up front. Very multiple. Again, you know going into this game that it’s going to be a battle for all four quarters, and they’re going to bring it and they have a lot of experience as well. It’s an exciting challenge, but not something that we’re not going to take lightly.”

Q: You’ve played in a number of games against ranked teams, but is there a particularly tough outing against a ranked team — maybe I’m thinking of Pitt or Wisconsin — where the failure or falling short of what you’d hoped to do is something you could plug into this week and make it better?

SH: “Yeah, I don’t really know what the question is.”

Q: Well, I mean learning from failure or personal disappointment?

SH: “We all have tough games, and we all have tough losses. I think Wisconsin, probably we were both 4-5 at that point. I think it’s all about — again — one-play, one-life mentality and being able to bounce back from bad plays, good plays. I think the guys around me and the guys up front are really good at keeping me up and keeping me clean. Just bounce back. The one-play, one-life mentality is probably all I’ve got there.”

Q: I didn’t know “Steez” was an actual word until you got here. It seems like something you identify with. Who gave that to you? Who pinned that to you? Does it work for you? How can it help everyone around you?

SH: “I think it’s something I got when I was young at Wake, just kind of like a style-with-ease type of deal, a flow, whatever you want to call it. I think everyone is different in their own way. It’s not something I completely have sold out to, but it’s something that is an easy tagline for me. There was a [No.] 10 before me at Wake, so nobody called me ’10’. There was already a Sam on the team, so they had to create something else, so that was probably the root of it.”

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Q: After the Central Michigan game, in an on-field interview, you said, “Be early. Be loud and be rowdy.” Notre Dame has done a great job of having a green jersey game with LED wristbands. I’m curious if you’ve ever been to a concert or ever seen any of these videos?

SH: “I think it’s been incredible to be a part of it. Postgame is probably the coolest part for us. Sometimes you can be out there and not even realize until the game’s over, you look up and go, ‘Wow, the entire student section is still here. The entire fanbase is still here, and I think it started in Ireland for myself, being new. I felt the impact for the Irish nation and the Irish fans, the global effect of traveling across the country and then coming in for the first home game and now having the second and coming into our third.

“We know [game) two of six was [Saturday}, and this will be three of six. So, we’re really excited and appreciative of the support that we have and the support we receive. It takes money to get here. It takes money to travel. It’s not easy to get into the stadium. It’s not easy leaving the stadium. The support is incredible. I’m definitely excited to see what it’s all about at a night game. I haven’t been to one of those.”

Q: When we see you in here, you’re easy-going and you’re kind of that way on the field, in the huddle or in between plays, but when you make a big play, you’re not afraid to celebrate or let some emotion out. How do you strike that balance?

SH: “I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. The celebration is just kind of the realization that those moments don’t happen too often. A lot of work gets put into what our team goes out there and does. A lot of it’s part of our culture. We want to celebrate the good plays and understand that they are fleeting, and the wins are all very hard to come by.

“And so, I think we, as an offensive unit and a defensive unit as well, you can see on the tape the pure joy and happiness that it brings to go make a big play, go score a touchdown, especially at home, too. You can hear the crowd, the thousands of people that are screaming. It’s a fun part and it’s good to sometimes let loose, and then obviously to be able to reign it back in is huge.”

Q: Did it take you a while in your playing career to embrace those moments? And then what allowed you to develop that early confidence you referenced with Marcus Freeman and the other people in the Gug?

SH: “I think it’s probably more the ebbs and flows of it, being able to handle the ups and downs. Then with coach Freeman, I think, you see the day in and day out of him, kind of the looks and how he’s perceived. But his No. 1 thing is just his consistency every single day. I know every time I see coach Freeman, I know what I’m going to get. And that’s huge.

“In this day and age, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s fake. And, as a head coach to be in the spotlight that he’s in and the pressure that’s put on him, it’d be very easy for him to come in and be all riled up or be tired from his six kids, or whatever you want to call it. But he’s shown up every single day, and it’s as persistent as I’ve ever seen. And we’re grateful, as a team, to have him. And then on the flip side, he always shows appreciation for our hard work and what we do for him.”

Q: This past Saturday, Jason Garrett, the NBC analyst, said that you throw the deep ball as well as anybody that he's seen in a long time. Besides the hundreds and thousands of deep balls that you've thrown, what are some of the keys for you there, some of the checkpoints that allows you to make sure you're on point?

SH: “I mean, it's really the guys getting open. I think they [Hartman’s passes] can all look pretty on air and look pretty off the hand, but if they're not caught, it's a lot of oohing, then nothing. And so, I think that it's really those guys getting separation and then the O-line protecting. Those plays don't take. They're not quick-hitters. They're deeper throws. Guys have got to get down the field. And so really, those two components kind of mesh together and make it look really good. But when you take out the O-line. I’m getting hit in the face. Or when the ball gets thrown, there's no receiver running down the field wide open. The ball might get deflected if it's not there.

“Again, that's something you learn as a quarterback, a lot of people can go back there and throw the ball really, really far. It's doing it with accuracy and then doing it with guys around you that you're on the same page with from hours and hours of work in the offseason.”

Q: At one point you turned to the referee about the hit that you had on your left lower leg. I don't know specifically what it is, but what did you speak with the official about that, and where are you with your injury?

SH: "There’s no injury. I was just curious, because I didn't really see — looking down — if that kid just went down straight [to make the hit]. But after watching it, it was kind of just a pile-up. It's football. It’s a violent game. It’s going to happen. And so, I’m just glad I got out of it healthy and onto the next.”

Q: You mentioned receivers getting separation. They face a very good defensive back corps in Ohio State. What can you do to help them get separation or throw into tight windows on Saturday?

SH: “I think it's all just going to be about execution. You can scheme up all the things you want. You can work on beating man coverage all you want, but if I don’t execute, we don't execute and make the plays work, at the end of the day, we kind of rely on that phrase: As whatever as it is, it's all about that. We’ve just got to just go out there and execute, and they're going to get us and we're going to get them. It's going to be a battle of wills and who wants it the most at the end of the day for four quarters. And if we can make enough plays at the end of the day, then that's going to be that. And, as coach Freeman’s said probably said 30 times, we're just trying to reach our full potential and wherever that ends up, it ends up.”

Q: What do you see as the full potential for this team?

SH: "Great question. We’ll see. Go Irish.”

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