Notre Dame Fighting Irish News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, left, celebrates with quarterback Sam Hartman (10). Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Heisman Trophy futures: Is Sam Hartman Notre Dame's savior?

By Matt Wiesenfeld | Last updated Aug 22, 2023 9:42 PM ET

Notre Dame has had seven players win the Heisman Trophy, tied for the most all time with Ohio State and Oklahoma. They have not won one since 1987 though (Tim Brown), which is pretty symbolic of the modern era of Fighting Irish football. However, you can make a case that there is no better star-making stage than Notre Dame.

This year, the Fighting Irish bring in a transfer quarterback with bonafides as good as any in the game. He might not be considered a top NFL prospect, but Sam Hartman is as capable as any signal caller in the nation in directing an offense. Perhaps he, and the team, catch lightning in a bottle.

2023 Heisman Trophy Odds

Sam Hartman, Quarterback, Notre Dame +1600

The Case For

Hartman is one of the most prolific and experienced quarterbacks in the game right now. Playing at Wake Forest before Notre Dame, he has thrown for nearly 8,000 yards and 80 touchdowns over the last couple of seasons. He has been smart, efficient and makes few mistakes. He transferred from the Demon Deacons because the ceiling at Wake Forest is only so high. There is no reason to think he can't succeed in South Bend.

Not only has it been a while since Notre Dame has won a Heisman but a while since they have had an advantage player at the quarterback position. There is going to be a lot of spotlight on Hartman and lots of opportunities for him to create Heisman moments for a very good, but not great Irish team. If he is on par with other candidates he is more likely to generate support from voters.

The Case Against

You can make an easy argument that Hartman might have had a better chance to put up Heisman-quality numbers by sticking with Wake Forest, where everything was familiar and the offense was geared around him. The overall talent might be better in terms of pro potential at Notre Dame, but Hartman could run the Wake Forest system in his sleep and he had quality pass catchers to work with. That has not been a strength of the Notre Dame program lately.

While the notoriety of Notre Dame helps Hartman, it can also hurt him. Anything close to a poor performance is going to be magnified way more than it was when he was in Winston-Salem. There are plenty of games to make a statement, but with so many "national" games, he cannot afford a clunker, and those happen.

Value Meter: Medium

All Hartman has to do is be the best quarterback Notre Dame has had in more than a decade and he will be in the conversation all season long. I would like a little more of a payoff given the fact that ND probably has to be in the playoff discussion for this to hit and they might be out of it before Halloween.

Pass ... You can probably get this number in a month anyway.

Matt Wiesenfeld

Matt Wiesenfeld has been handicapping games and espousing sports wisdom online for more than a decade, writing thousands of articles to help bettors understand and play the market. Matt loves to bet on, write about, and engage on MLB, the NFL, NBA, college football, and college basketball

More must-reads: