Notre Dame's Sam Hartman signs with Beats by Dre, gifts headphones to teammates

Sam Hartman is back to signing NIL deals that benefit his teammates.

Just three days after gifting the entire Notre Dame team SlipSpeed training shoes from Under Armour, the quarterback has inked an endorsement deal with Beats by Dre. As part of the agreement, he’s gifted every teammate a pair of headphones. Vayner Sports, which represents Hartman, confirmed the partnership to On3.

The former Wake Forest quarterback transferred to South Bend this offseason, deciding to make the jump to play on the national stage. The move has paid off early, with the power of the Notre Dame brand setting him up with some notable NIL brand partners. Both of these deals come before the Fighting Irish play Navy in Dublin on Saturday.

Beats by Dre and Bose have emerged as two major spenders in the NIL era. Beats has signed a handful of notable athletes, including Caleb Williams, Bijan Robinson and Bronny James. The brand also mounted a college basketball campaign in March, signing Drew Timme along with North Carolina’s Deja Kelly, Stanford’s Haley Jones and Kansas’ Gradey Dick.

Drew Allar signed with Bose, gifting his Penn State offensive line headphones similar to Hartman. NIL deals that provide value to an athlete’s teammates have become an increasingly popular move for athletes. Williams gifted the USC women’s basketball team Beats by Dre headphones before the 2022 NCAA tournament. LSU‘s Angel Reese made a similar move at LSU, gifting her teammates Coach bags.

Sam Hartman settling into Notre Dame

Notre Dame struggled at the quarterback position last year, opting to jump in the portal this offseason and pick up Hartman. Arguably the top quarterback available, the former three-star recruit is now in a premier program.

After a five-year run at Wake Forest, Hartman decided to transfer as opposed to entering the NFL draft. He missed the 2022 season opener after he underwent surgery for a non-football injury, yet he finished the year with a 63.1% completion percentage with 35 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pound quarterback brings immediate veteran experience to the quarterback position. He beat out Tyler Buchner for the starting job this spring; Buchner transferred to Alabama in April. Hartman has thrown for 12,967 career yards and 110 passing touchdowns.

“It’s different; it’s special here,” Hartman recently said. “There is a lot of eyes which is pretty obvious at the point. You never really know until you’re out of it what it means to be in this position. As much as I can, trying to soak it in.”

Expansive NIL brand

Repped by Vayner Sports, he’s been an active name in NIL with endorsement deals with Bojangles, Candy Digital, Dove, Mizzen+Main and Wahl Grooming. He has built a major social media brand, too, with nearly 125,000 followers.

Sam Hartman has a $1.1 million On3 NIL Valuation, which ranks No. 14 in the college football NIL rankings. His valuation sits at No. 20 in the On3 NIL 100, which is the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

The On3 NIL Valuation is the industry’s leading index that sets the standard market NIL value for high school and college athletes. A proprietary algorithm, the On3 NIL Valuation calculates an athlete’s NIL value using dynamic data points targeting three primary categories: performance, influence and exposure.

About On3 NIL Valuation, Brand Value, Roster Value

While the algorithm includes deal data, it does not act as a tracker of the value of NIL deals athletes have completed to date, nor does it set an athlete’s NIL valuation for their entire career. The On3 NIL Valuation calculates the optimized NIL opportunity for athletes relative to the overall NIL market and projects out to as long as 12 months into the future.