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With Sam Hartman it’s playoff or bust for Notre Dame Football

By Chris Peterson

WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - OCTOBER 22: Sam Hartman #10 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons looks to pass against the Boston College Eagles during the second half of their game at Truist Field on October 22, 2022 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLINA - OCTOBER 22: Sam Hartman #10 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons looks to pass against the Boston College Eagles during the second half of their game at Truist Field on October 22, 2022 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images) /
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Notre Dame football didn’t have a huge haul of transfers but Sam Hartman still makes the Fighting Irish a big-time winner in terms of the transfer portal. 

The Notre Dame football program has strung together some really impressive recruiting classess. The Irish are ranked ninth overall in the 247 sports composite rankings for 2023 and that’s three cycles in a row for the Irish who already have the makings of a top-10 class in 2024.

One thing Notre Dame football has been missing, for a while now it seems, is a truly elite quarterback. There have been some decent ones over the years but DeShone Kizer is the last early round-draft pick at the position I can remember and that’s saying something.

Notre Dame football has a commitment in the 2024 class from five-star quarterback CJ Carr and Tyler Buchner is a former top-100 recruit too who is fresh off an impressive performance in a Gator Bowl win over South Carolina.

Still, the Irish didn’t feel good enough about the QB position heading into next season to stand pat and that’s why the addition of Sam Hartman was so huge. He’s proven and probably could have went to the NFL draft.

If it wasn’t for NIL, I double he would have even entered the transfer portal after a successful career with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Hartman is a 6-foot-1 quarterback that some had rated as the top QB in the transfer portal.

At the very least, Hartman got a four-star rating in the transfer portal and that’s probably because he’s thrown for 110 touchdowns in his career. He’s got more than 1,500 passing attempts and has a career-completion percentage of of 59.1, yet is coming off a career-high at 63.1.

Why it’s playoff or bust with Hartman

Just about everyone has Notre Dame in the preseason top 10 next season and that probably would have been the case without Hartman. With him, it feels like the expectations should be College Football Playoff or bust in South Bend.

That’s what happens when you land the No. 1 QB in the transfer portal. Recruiting transfers isn’t necessarily about numbers, it’s about filling needs and few teams did that better than Notre Dame football did, so when talking about transfer portal winners, we should start with the Irish.

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Hartman playing for Notre Dame could have a big impact on college football in 2023 and Irish fans are hoping it takes them from a nine-win regular season to 11-12 wins and CFB Playoff berth.

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