JD PicKell reveals the chances that Sam Hartman wins the Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame

Next year’s college football Heisman race is loaded with a number of front runners for the prestigious award. Many analysts of the game have quarterbacks Caleb Williams from USC and Drake Maye from North Carolina head and shoulders above the rest of the competition to win the award. But does Notre Dame‘s newly acquired quarterback Sam Hartman have a chance at winning the award? On3’s JD PicKell answered that question on a recent episode of the Hard Count.

“There’s a lot of odds out there in Vegas, and those mean something,” said PicKell. “I don’t want us to just totally throw those away, but when games start, when we actually get to see these guys take the field, that’s when we can really get a good gauge for Sam Hartman and his Heisman candidacy. But the way that I see this, Notre Dame is going to be a very visible program throughout the year. And for Sam Hartman, his chances are as good as anybody’s. His chances are as good as anybody else’s, depending on his success (and) Notre Dame’s success.”

Hartman has shown himself to be a legitimate threat at quarterback. In his five seasons at Wake Forest, Hartman threw for 12,967 yards, 110 touchdowns, and 41 interceptions with a 59.1% completion percentage. And in Notre Dame’s spring showcase game, he wowed those in attendance and practically cemented himself as the Fighting Irish starting quarterback heading into the summer.

“There’s no reason that there’s issues with him trying to get people’s attention to win the Heisman Trophy. He’s not playing on the West Coast. He’s not going to be one of those guys that’s in the G5 (group of five) conversation that has to try to get attention of voters. Like, you play at Notre Dame, you’re the quarterback, you ball out, you’re going have the attention of a lot of people to try and win the Heisman Trophy.”

As the college football analyst highlighted to begin his answer, it is hard to project the Heisman Trophy winner in the offseason. Many things can change the trajectory of a team and thrust different players into the conversation, just look at former LSU quarterback Joe Burrow after leading the Tigers on a surprising national championship run in 2019. So, while Hartman may not be getting the attention right now if he leaves his name on an impressive run culminating in an appearance in the College Football Playoff and/or the national championship game, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t be in consideration to take home that hardware at the end of the season.