Sam Hartman passes eye test in Notre Dame debut, creates excitement for offensive potential

Sam Hartman truly passed the eye test in his Notre Dame debut, a 42-3 win over Navy, according to On3’s J.D. PicKell.

Head coach Marcus Freeman was pretty satisfied with his new quarterback after the first win of the season. If it continues at this rate, Notre Dame looks like a bonafide College Football Playoff contender with Hartman under center.

Despite transferring in from Wake Forest, it looked like Hartman was in South Bend for years.

“The real talking point was Sam Hartman looking absolutely dialed in and it’s not so much about the fact that they scored 42 points, it was the way that they scored those 42 points,” PicKell said on The Hard Count. “It was the way the eye test, that you watch Sam Hartman throwing the football out there … 

“There was no earthly way to tell that that was Sam Hartman’s first game with that new offense, his first game with that receiving room. He was the tone setter. He was the pace setter for that entire team yesterday. And the way that he looked in some of those throws where you can’t just roll the ball out there and play if you’re the first year starting quarterback in that system, Sam Hartman played a lot of football and played a lot of football with these receivers, and the timing routes.”

Hartman looked really comfortable in the pocket, as well as using his feet to get outside and make plays on the fly.

“He’s ad libbing moves up in the pocket,” PicKell said. “Sam Hartman, yes, the stat line is pretty. Yes, the final score is pretty but the way that it happened. We talked about going in, what would the level of mojo look like for this team in the pass game? How in sync, how crisp would they look?

“Because no one would have blamed Sam Hartman if he came out and threw like 60% completion percentage, a couple of throws are errant because it’s a new receiving room like there was none of that to be seen from him in this game.”

Hartman finished the game 19-of-23 passing for 251 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

“And so the big takeaway for me isn’t so much what they did against Navy, it’s the base they set for when they go play at NC State, for when they go play against Ohio State, especially in this passing game because that was the question mark all offseason long,” PicKell said. “Sam Hartman, he’s really good. What does his receiver group look like? They looked good yesterday. 

“And so you don’t want to put too much stock into Week Zero. But at the exact same time, you really appreciate the final grade you’re probably giving that room based on what they did yesterday.”