Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1496419
24 MAY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA S am Hartman is familiar with tak- ing snaps under center — sort of. "The only time we ever did it at Wake Forest was victory forma- tion," Hartman told reporters after prac- tice March 31. "Those are pretty low- stake center-quarterback exchanges." Low-stake? Technically. Important? Absolutely. The Notre Dame coaching staff would love to dial up the victory forma- tion for Hartman 10-plus times during the 2023 season. To get there, though, it will likely mean Hartman goes under center much more throughout the ac- tual high-stake portion of games. Notre Dame has a more traditional, pro-style offense than Wake Forest's slow-mesh system. Hartman's desire to use his final year of eligibility at a pro- gram that can best prepare him for the next level has been well documented. This time next year, NFL scouts will scour Fighting Irish film from this fall to see how well Hartman adapted to an offense that much closer resem- bles that of a professional team. In other words, an offense that isn't afraid to go under center. If any of them were around for Notre Dame spring prac- tices, they'd have already seen that Hartman is not the same player he was in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was a prolific one there, throw- ing more touchdown passes (110) than any quarterback in ACC history. But in South Bend, he's a more polished one. A LEARNING LEARNING CURVES CURVES The Notre Dame offense features new faces and familiar ones in different roles Quarterback Sam Hartman is absorbing as much as he can as the new guy despite being a sixth-year graduate student. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER