{"id":49796,"date":"2023-08-27T17:00:24","date_gmt":"2023-08-27T21:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=49796"},"modified":"2023-08-27T15:28:59","modified_gmt":"2023-08-27T19:28:59","slug":"sam-hartman-shines-in-notre-dame-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2023\/08\/27\/sam-hartman-shines-in-notre-dame-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Hartman Shines in Notre Dame Debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have themselves a quarterback in Sam Hartman<\/a>, the accomplished Wake Forest transfer and sixth-year senior. In an impressive 42-3 drubbing of Navy in Notre Dame\u2019s season opener, Hartman demonstrated complete command of the offense. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman<\/strong> and new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker<\/strong> could not have drawn it up any better.<\/p>\n

Sam Hartman On the Money<\/h3>\n

While not perfect, Hartman proved decisive. He ran the offense well and proved efficient from the get-go, picking apart a porous Navy defense. His very first pass for Notre Dame was a 19-yard completion to Jayden Thomas<\/a>. For the day, he connected on 19 of 23 pass attempts for 251 yards with four touchdowns. More importantly, he had no interceptions. Hartman got the ball out of his hands quickly and accurately and exploited Navy\u2019s defense short and deep.<\/p>\n

Hartman engineered scoring drives on the Irish\u2019s first five possessions, all of which ended with touchdowns. His fourth touchdown pass of the game tied him with Ron Powlus<\/strong> (1994) and Jack Coan<\/strong> (2021) for most in a Notre Dame debut. It also marked the 114th<\/sup> touchdown pass of his collegiate career, tying him with University of Florida\u2019s Danny Wuerffel<\/strong> (1993-1996) for 13th<\/sup> all-time on the FBS passing list.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts up front,\u201d Hartman told the Associated Press. \u201cI had a lot of time to go through my reads and progressions and felt comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Plethora of Weapons<\/h3>\n

Notre Dame\u2019s wide receivers entered the season opener without a go-to standout. Plenty of weapons emerged as Hartman spread the ball around effectively. Four different receivers made big plays and three different receivers caught touchdown passes. Freshman Jaden Greathous<\/a>e led the way with a pair of touchdowns, including a 35-yard score on his first career catch. Thomas and Deion Colzie<\/a> both added scoring receptions from Hartman. And Chris Tyree<\/a> made his presence felt with a 20-yard catch. Those four accounted for 14 receptions, totaling 212 yards.<\/p>\n

First-year Navy head coach Brian Newberry<\/strong> came away impressed with Hartman\u2019s play. \u201cHe\u2019s a smart player; he sees the field really, really well,\u201d Newberry told AP. \u201cHe put the ball in the right places. He\u2019s like a coach out on the field. He ran the offense well. He was super-efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mission Accomplished<\/h3>\n

What a difference a year makes. Notre Dame erased any fears about another slow start after opening last year 0-2. And while Notre Dame held on for a 35-32 victory over Navy last year, the Irish outplayed an inferior Midshipmen squad in every aspect this time around. With outstanding protection from the mostly experienced offensive line, the Irish thrived in the run game and pass game.<\/p>\n

Tackles Joe Alt<\/strong> and Blake Fisher<\/strong> and center Zeke Correll<\/strong> were physical up front. Guards Rocco Spindler<\/strong> and Pat Coogan<\/strong> also played well in their first starts. Audric Estim<\/a>e led the running attack, gaining 95 yards on 16 carries, including a one-yard scoring run. Running back Jadarian Price<\/a> also scored. In last year\u2019s contest, the Irish rushed for just 66 yards on 34 carries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s easy when you have two of the best tackles in the country,\u201d Hartman said. \u201cOut wide, those guys just made plays in space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/h3>\n

The No. 13 Fighting Irish have reasons for optimism. The offense is clearly in good hands with Hartman. The physical offensive line cleared huge holes and protected Hartman and company from start to finish. As a result, the offense scored at will. On the other side of the ball, the Irish defense proved stingy all game long.<\/p>\n

Notre Dame faces an FCS opponent for the first time in history next weekend, hosting Tennessee State. After that, the Irish play North Carolina State and Central Michigan before welcoming No. 3-ranked Ohio State to South Bend for a highly anticipated clash on Sept. 23. Notre Dame was clearly the superior team against Navy<\/a>, but the convincing victory should create some early momentum. It will be needed against Ohio State in what promises to be a dramatic showdown between two of college football\u2019s most historic programs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy: \u00a0Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have themselves a quarterback in Sam Hartman, the accomplished Wake Forest transfer and sixth-year senior. In an impressive 42-3 drubbing of Navy in Notre Dame\u2019s season opener, Hartman demonstrated complete command of the offense. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and new offensive coordinator Gerad Parker could not have drawn it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4854,"featured_media":49799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2],"tags":[8064,10433,10446,9508,4525,1598,9284,6850,313,259,8698,8696,10445,8697],"class_list":["post-49796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-independents","category-featured","tag-blake-fisher","tag-brian-newberry","tag-danny-wuerffel","tag-fbs-independents","tag-gerad-parker","tag-jack-coan","tag-joe-alt","tag-marcus-freeman","tag-navy-midshipmen","tag-notre-dame-fighting-irish","tag-pat-coogan","tag-rocco-spindler","tag-ron-powlus","tag-zeke-correll"],"modified_by":"Maggie Yarnell, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4854"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}