How the addition of Sam Hartman changes Notre Dame's outlook for 2023 season

Sam Hartman is ready to change the game for Notre Dame in 2023.

The former Wake Forest star quarterback took his talents to South Bend to join Marcus Freeman’s Fighting Irish, and good times seem to be on the way. At least, that’s what On3’s JD PicKell is thinking.

PicKell explained why Hartman is changing the outlook of Notre Dame’s 2023 season just by joining the squad, and how much higher the Fighting Irish can climb under his watch.

“You added Sam Hartman,” PicKell said with a smile, thinking of all the possibilities for Notre Dame. “Marcus Freeman said, ‘Yeah, we got our starting quarterback coming back,’ in Tyler Buchner, who started Game 1. But listen, we want to play for some things here at Notre Dame. We want to do something here at Notre Dame. I want to make sure we have a chance to compete for a College Football Playoff berth here at Notre Dame. So you added Sam Hartman.

“That does two things. The first of which being, it gives you the opportunity to add some balance to that physically. I say it a lot, in terms of ways that you can win football games, the more ways that you have to beat teams, just overall the more dangerous you are week in and week out, you’re going to be physical. Yeah, you’re going to try to punch them in the mouth, and you’re going to try to just make these teams submit by your physicality, but now adding Sam Hartman, you’ve got a little finesse. Add a chance to hurt you with the aerial game. When you’re balanced — balanced football teams have a chance to do exciting things.”

Evidently, PicKell believes what Hartman is bringing to the table for Notre Dame can elevate them into one of the top teams in all of college football.

“I mean, that was kind of the next evolution for a couple of teams we saw last year play in the College Football Playoff,” added PicKell. “For the majority of the season, we were talking a lot about Georgia, a lot about Michigan. Both those teams we know have that physical M.O. and they’re going to be the team that controls the line of scrimmage and pushes you around, but when they took that next step was when they added something vertically. Stetson Bennett, he progressed a lot. Georgia won another national title. JJ McCarthy, starting quarterback at Michigan, have a chance to compete for a national title this coming season.

“So that’s the first piece. You add the opportunity to be more balanced, balance — it’s always a good thing.”

Time will tell if Sam Hartman is all he’s cracked up to be for the Fighting Irish, but Notre Dame has a chance to do something special in 2023.