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Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman named to Maxwell Award Watch List

IMG_7504by:Jack Soble•07/31/23•

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Notre Dame graduate quarterback Sam Hartman was named to the 2023 Maxwell Award Watch List on Monday. The Maxwell Award is given every year to the most outstanding college football player in the nation.

Hartman is one of 86 players to make the list.

The last Notre Dame player to win the Maxwell Award was Manti Te’o in 2012. Te’o is one of six Notre Dame players to win the award, following Leon Hart in 1949, Johnny Lattner in 1952 and 1953, Jim Lynch in 1966, Ross Browner in 1977 and Brady Quinn in 2006.

The latest Maxwell Award winner is USC junior quarterback Caleb Williams, who also won the Heisman Trophy, in 2022. The last Maxwell winner who did not also win the Heisman was Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in 2018.

Listed in alphabetical order by school, 2023 Notre Dame opponents placed eight players on the list. Clemson junior running back Will Shipley, Duke junior quarterback Riley Leonard, Louisville graduate quarterback Jack Plummer, Ohio State junior receivers Marvin Harrison Jr. and Emeka Egbuka, Pittsburgh graduate quarterback Phil Jurkovec, Williams and Wake Forest redshirt junior receiver Donavon Greene were all named by the Maxwell Football Club.

Jurkovec’s name will stand out to Irish fans, as he played for Notre Dame from 2018 to 2019.

Hartman transferred from Wake Forest to Notre Dame after a prolific five-year career with the Demon Deacons. Most notably, he set the record for most passing touchdowns in ACC history with 110, and he finished second to North Carolina State’s Phillip Rivers in yards with 12,967.

More: Why Sam Hartman is the most important Notre Dame player in 2023

In 2021, Hartman led Wake Forest to its first ACC Championship game since 2006. The Demon Deacons lost to Pitt, but Hartman rebounded to win the 2021 Gator Bowl against Rutgers, 38-10.

Hartman, who went to high school at Mount Pleasant (S.C.) Oceanside, entered the transfer portal Dec. 27, four days after beating Missouri in the Gasparilla Bowl and completing an 8-5 season. He committed to Notre Dame on Jan. 5, and was in a quarterback competition with incumbent starter Tyler Buchner throughout the spring.

Buchner, a junior, entered the transfer portal April 25, three days after the Blue-Gold game. That left Hartman as the unquestioned Notre Dame starter heading into the 2023 season.

In the Blue-Gold game, Hartman’s Gold team beat Buchner’s Blue team 24-0. The graduate quarterback put on a show for the first time in a Notre Dame uniform, completing 13 passes in 16 attempts for 189 yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for a score as well.

Notre Dame opens its season at 2:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 26 against Navy in Dublin, Ireland.

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