Through seven games, the No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 5-2, with USC knocking on the door. Their quarterback, Sam Hartman, is also sitting in the Heisman conversation.
Notre Dame is frequently a hot topic in the college football world, but having a big-name quarterback — who is also an NFL Draft prospect — only draws more attention to the esteemed program.
Let’s get to know Hartman a little better.
Why Did Sam Hartman Transfer to Notre Dame?
Hartman, a graduate transfer from Wake Forest, has passed for 1,712 yards and 16 touchdowns, with only three interceptions.
He set multiple career records at Wake Forest, holding the second-most ACC passing yards with 12,967 and leading the ACC in touchdown passes with 110. He also threw only 41 interceptions.
Notre Dame QB Sam Hartman freezing the safety and delivering a strike with the no look (okay maybe semi-look). Touchdown 🥶🥶🥶 pic.twitter.com/0xrOgypjuJ
— Jared Tokarz (@JaredNFLDraft) October 8, 2023
Hartman decided to enter the 2023 transfer portal in an attempt to prove to NFL scouts that he wasn’t just a product of the Wake Forest system. He wanted to prove he could do it anywhere.
Who Are Mark and Lisa Hartman?
Sam Hartman was born to his parents, Mark and Lisa Hartman. He was born on July 29, 1999, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Hartman attended Oceanside Collegiate Academy in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, for high school. Hartman was a four-star prospect who committed to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in December 2017.
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. In 2016, just before the start of his high school season, Hartman had to undergo emergency surgery due to a sizable abscess that had spread into his neck.
After getting surgery to remove the abscess and dropping his weight to under 150 pounds, he played the very first week of the season. He didn’t miss a single game.
The abscess suffered in high school wasn’t the only injury Hartman had to face. Starting as a true freshman in 2018, he suffered a leg injury that would keep him out for the remainder of the season.
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He also faced a delay to his 2022 season, being ruled out indefinitely on Aug. 10 for a non-football-related medical condition. He suffered from a blood-clotting condition, Paget-Schroetter Syndrome.
“It wouldn’t really be my career without having something like that happen right before the season. That was what my mom and I always joked about, sitting in the hospital room,” Hartman said last year.
He was medically cleared to start later that season.
Hartman’s father, Mark, is a surgeon and former football player in his own right. He played at Davidson College in the 1980s. His mother, Lisa, could always be found on the bench, cheering him on during every game.
Hartman also grew up alongside two brothers, Joe and Demitri. Joe, his older brother, also played football in high school, as well as basketball at Haverford.
His other brother, Demitri Allison, was adopted. He and Hartman were inseparable. Allison was a receiver for Elon until he devastatingly took his own life in 2015 at only 21 years old.