Marcus Freeman Expects Sam Hartman To Play In Bowl Game

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman discussed his anticipation of Sam Hartman playing one more game for Notre Dame when the Irish go to their bowl game

Sam Hartman’s pending arrival at Notre Dame precipitated the departure of the team’s two starting quarterbacks from the 2022 season last offseason. Drew Pyne, who started 10 games for the Irish last season, bolted in early December. Tyler Buchner later announced his transfer after battling for the starting job with Hartman last spring.

Nearly a year later, Hartman has started all 12 games for the Fighting Irish this season after using the transfer portal to leave Wake Forest for South Bend. Hartman has not made an official announcement on his bowl game status yet, but he at least hinted at it in the wake of his final home game against Wake Forest on Nov. 18.

"Two more (games) left,” Hartman said near the end of his postgame press conference in anticipation of both last weekend’s Stanford game as well as a bowl game. "But thank you.”

Irish head coach Marcus Freeman indicated in a media call on Monday that he has not had specific conversations about bowl opt outs, draft intentions or the transfer portal with individual players, but those conversations will happen in the coming days.

"We’ll have those conversations this week,” Freeman disclosed. "Starting today through Friday when we get on the road. We’ll figure out our plans from there moving forward.”

Even though the specific conversation had not taken place prior to Freeman’s media call, his feel is that Hartman will be on the field one more time for the Fighting Irish this season.

"I plan for Sam to play in the bowl game,” Freeman remarked.. "Obviously, when he said that, I think that’s where his head is, too. We’ll have to have a meeting to make sure it’s still there but again, that’s what these conversations are for and unless I hear otherwise, through a conversation my plan would (be) for Sam Hartman to be our quarterback for the bowl game.”

Hartman finished the regular season with 2,689 yards, 24 touchdown passes, eight interceptions, a 63.5% completion percentage, and a pass efficiency rating of 159.49, which ranks No. 17 nationally. It is also the best passer rating of any quarterback who joined a new team via the transfer portal last offseason.

While there are pros and cons to Hartman playing, his experience and proficiency level, especially if the Irish face an opponent like LSU or Ole Miss in a bowl game, are important factors to consider. Those teams are No. 1 and No. 22 in the nation, respectively, in scoring offense. Notre Dame’s Hartman-led 39.1 ppg checks in at No. 9 and is the second-best team scoring mark of all-time and the best of the modern era at Notre Dame.

There’s the line of thinking that Notre Dame could use the bowl game to play Steve Angeli and/or Kenny Minchey in the bowl to further their development and get a look at one or both for the quarterback competition that will take place in the offseason.

But Freeman has already also indicated that he plans to add another transfer portal quarterback during the offseason. Buchner got his shot at development and the shot to make an impression on the staff in his Gator Bowl start against South Carolina.

That opportunity ultimately meant nothing, because Buchner transferred after the spring. The same could easily happen again this offseason after a new quarterback joins the team.

Freeman has given every indication that the bowl game result matters and he is not looking at it as an “exhibition game” just to give younger players, quarterbacks and otherwise, more looks.

"I do want our team to understand how important this bowl game will be to our football program,” Freeman said. "It’s an important game and we want to finish this thing off the right way.”

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