Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 APRIL 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED seen Hartman throw a pass in person with a gold Irish helmet on his head. Some staffers might be in the same boat if they haven't caught glimpses of player-led workouts during offseason conditioning this semester. There is a newness factor to Notre Dame's quar- terback room that won't wear off any- time soon, just as there was a novel ele- ment for Freeman's first spring session as a head coach a year ago and Coan's arrival a year before that. A successful spring for Hartman would entail bringing a sense of secu- rity at the signal-caller spot to South Bend. For years, it seems like there has been nothing but the opposite — inse- curity. Notre Dame fans wonder why they can't have a QB be a national force like the ones Ohio State pumps out an- nually some four hours away. You don't win games in the spring, but you can win the minds of college football enthusiasts everywhere. Notre Dame needs good news coming out of campus about the quarterback posi- tion. Hartman has the most authority to make that happen. TYLER BUCHNER'S BATTLE This year, though, things are a little different. Coan's competition was a sophomore with four career snaps to his name in Drew Pyne and a true freshman with zero in Tyler Buchner. Anyone who called that an offseason competition simply felt the courtesy to do so. Coan was never going to lose out to either of them. Buchner is two years older now and has three career starts under his belt, including one in the Gator Bowl. He was the game's MVP with 5 total touch- downs, two more than Hartman had in Wake Forest's Gasparilla Bowl win over Missouri. The experience gap is still vast. Hart- man has played 3,438 snaps in his five- year career. Buchner has played 363. Hartman has 45 starts, 15 times as many as Buchner. He has 137 total touch- downs, more than 10 times as many as Buchner's 13. On paper, there really isn't any com- parison. But on a football field, Buchner is bigger and faster. He's the one with three years of eligibility remaining. Hartman only has one. Buchner could be the future of the Fighting Irish football program. Hartman can't be beyond 2023. That might not matter. It didn't for Coan in 2021. Even when the Irish of- fense struggled at times that year, Notre Dame stuck with Coan and started him in every game because the coaching staff believed he gave the team the best chance to win those games. That could be the case for Hartman two years later. Only Buchner has the power to prove otherwise. If he takes a gigantic step forward and is the dual-threat Tommy Rees envisioned him being during his recruitment and through last offseason, there might be a competitive spirit at the signal-caller position after all. Few are expecting Buchner to put up much of a fight against one of the best quarterbacks in college football the last two seasons, so what does he have to lose? In a way, this is Buchner's most important offseason as an Irish player. And yet, that doesn't come with the burden of immense pressure like it did last year when he was expected to beat Pyne for the starting nod. Look out for TB12 to make some noise this spring. CAN PARKER PACK A PUNCH? Rees was a catalyst in getting Hart- man and Buchner to campus. He's no longer around to oversee their achieve- ments at Notre Dame. The offensive 2023 SPRING FOOTBALL OVERVIEW Quarterback Sam Hartman will go through spring practices somewhere other than Wake Forest for the first time in his college career. PHOTO BY JOE VOGAN