Notre Dame football: 3 reasons to buy stock in Irish in 2023

1. Sam Hartman

Sam Hartman is the biggest reason to buy stock in the Irish. This should have been pretty obvious from the get-go. He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the country and arguably the best portal quarterback this cycle and Marcus Freeman was able to land him after a really solid career at Wake Forest in which he passed for well over 10,000 yards.

Gone is Tyler Buchner who started the 2022 season as QB1 before getting hurt and while the hopes for the former blue-chipper were high, he just struggled mightily in the spring and probably lost some confidence when Freeman went out and got Hartman.

But Irish fans are going to see immediately what getting a top-tier quarterback will do for an already-solid team basically missing just one major piece. He’s taking over a team that has playoff talent and will likely be one of the final teams standing in the hunt for the CFP.

Hartman will have an elite run game behind him, a potential top-25 defense, and some weapons all around him in the former of young receivers and budding tight ends.

Oh, and he’ll have a solid offensive line protecting him.

Hartman is a prolific passer and Notre Dame will have its best quarterback since Ian Book and probably the best it’s had in over a decade.