Marcus Freeman addresses Sam Hartman opting out of Notre Dame's bowl game

Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman chose to opt out of the Sun Bowl. This, naturally, presented head coach Marcus Freeman with an added challenge in preparing for that game.

At one point, it seemed like Hartman was going to play but he changed his mind, adding another layer to the challenge for Freeman. That was a challenge that Freeman addressed while preparing for the bowl.

“Yeah, you’ll have to ask Sam,” Marcus Freeman said. “He made the decision that he’s gonna opt-out and he talked to the people that he felt are important in his life and made a decision that he felt was best for him.”

Sam Hartman is far from the only Notre Dame player to opt-out of the Sun Bowl. After all, this was an Irish team that thought it had New Year’s Six potential and now players going to the NFL Draft are looking to protect themselves. Along with Hartman, that includes captains Joe Alt and Cam Hart. Star players Audric Estime, Blake Fisher, and Marist Liufau will all also be skipping the game.

Interestingly, Freeman also made it clear that he disagrees with opting-out. However, he did make sure to emphasize that he still supports these players.

“And as I’ve told all of the guys that have opted-out, I can disagree with your decision and still support you. That’s the same thing I told Sam and every single other one that opted out. I disagree. I think you should play, but I love you, and I support you and you’re gonna do great things.”

The result of all of these opt-outs is that Notre Dame will need to rely on a youth movement during its bowl game. In particular, Steve Angeli will start in place of Sam Hartman.

The Irish take on an Oregon State team going through its own series of changes, Oregon State, in the Sun Bowl on December 29th. Notre Dame opened as a 10.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel. Since then, the line has moved and the Irish are now only a 6.5-point favorite.

Andy Staples: ‘The hope’ is Riley Leonard leads Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff

Marcus Freeman brought in a new transfer quarterback, Riley Leonard from Duke, to replace Sam Hartman going forward. It’s a move that caught a lot of people’s attention, but as On3’s Andy Staples explained, the hope is to go to the College Football Playoff.

“This is following in the footsteps of Sam Hartman, who did the same thing. Starter for an ACC program, played very, very well at that program, now going to Notre Dame as a one-year rental, and the hope is that he leads Notre Dame to the College Football Playoff,” Staples said.

“Now, it’ll be a very different College Football Playoff than the one Sam Hartman was trying to lead the Fighting Irish to. That was a four-teamer, this is a 12-teamer, and it is more set up for an independent Notre Dame to get in. … So this is Notre Dame running it back one more time. The results from Sam Hartman were pretty good, but not exactly what they wanted. They wanted a little bigger pop. They wanted to double digit win season, which perhaps they can get with a win in the Sun Bowl against Oregon State. But that’s not going to be with Sam Hartman. So, Notre Dame will try again with another ACC quarterback.”