Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 9, 2023 13 UNDER THE DOME "You want to do a good job for everybody. I want to make your guys' job fun. And it's sure as hell a lot of fun when we do what we did and play the way we played." — Gerad Parker after his success- ful debut as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator "Is anyone really going to bet against a guy who made a necklace out of his own rib? Especially one who threw for 3,700 yards last year? Not since Miami's turnover chain has an accessory meant so much to the College Football Playoff race." — ESPN's David Hale on graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman and Notre Dame in Tier 2D by themselves (behind only 14 teams) in his tiered preseason rankings of all 133 FBS schools ahead of Week 1 "You can argue that he's made the most progress of anybody. Maturity, unselfishness, buying into the system of Coach [Marcus] Freeman's way of doing things. That kid's been amazing with his strength gains, his size. I couldn't be more excited about him and equally excited to see him back in our regular defense." — Notre Dame defensive co- ordinator Al Golden on senior vyper Jordan Botelho "That's what you love to see, a guy willing to sac- rifice his body but also do your job. You can't just be a physical player and not do your job. Marist did them both." — Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman on graduate student linebacker Marist Liufau's performance against Navy "I still am amazed that Notre Dame has to go to Wake Forest to get a transfer quarterback [Sam Hartman]. That doesn't equate to me. Now, he's a great player. But Notre Dame has to go recruit a five-star. They should have one, two and three excellent quarterbacks because it's Notre Dame. Ohio State and those top blueblood teams, you should be in the mix on every top quarterback in America to get 'em." — FOX Sports college football analyst Urban Meyer on his podcast "The 13th-ranked Fighting Irish got off to a great start in the 42-3 win over Navy in Week 0, which so- lidified them as a legit College Football Playoff threat. They've made the CFP twice with slightly above aver- age quarterback play. With Sam Hartman taking the snaps, it could vault them into the national title race rather than just a threat to make the four-team field. After all, those are two entirely different conversa- tions." — Barrett Sallee of CBS Sports on including the Irish on his list of 14 teams that have a legitimate chance to make the College Football Playoff field "When I saw Sam Hartman, I immediately thought, 'Boy, his wide receiver crew is a lot better. Boy, this run game is a lot better.' Why? Because Hartman can control the game. … For me — this is not an overreaction, there are things that they can get better at. I don't know exactly what their defense is going to be — but their ceiling is a lot higher now. "They still have USC, still have Ohio State, still have Clemson. You can't just beat down Navy with a great running game and a veteran quarterback and all of a sudden I'm jumping on your band- wagon to be a CFP contender. However, these three games become more interesting." — FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt on his podcast "Notre Dame is about to learn how the other half lives in college football, the programs that roll out NFL prospects at quarterback year after year. Sam Hartman may play for Marcus Freeman for just this one season. And that's fine. Whatever's next at quarterback will eventually come. Until then, the Irish should enjoy the journey. Because based on the first impression, Notre Dame's new quarterback might take this program somewhere new. There's no need to wait." — The Athletic's Pete Sampson TOP TWEETS PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER THEY SAID IT THEY SAID IT "My dad told me, 'You've not arrived. You've done nothing, really. When you really look at this from a grand scheme of things, it's just your freshman year. You don't make a name for yourself off of one year, you have to continue to improve and improve.'" — Notre Dame sophomore cornerback Benjamin Morrison