Below is a transcript of the 15-plus minutes Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman spent speaking with local writers Wednesday night at Notre Dame.
Questions may be paraphrased. Quotes aren't.
SAM HARTMAN
What are you doing here?
“What am I doing here? It's probably the same reason a lot of people are here. You kind of look around and you see the tradition, you see the football history, you see the old national championship trophies, the gold helmets, the Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus. And then you see an opportunity to play football again. Through my career you watch a lot of my teammates at Wake and people in general that I grew up with playing football, this is probably the one sport you can't just get together with a group of guys and just play on any Saturday or any Sunday. This is a great opportunity for myself to, one, take a challenge and a leap of faith in a program and, two, just a great opportunity to play the great sport we call football. I love football. I love playing it. Love being around the guys. From what I had heard before and has been reaffirmed since being here, it's a great group of guys, great culture, great everything. It's been very reassuring. I’ve been here for I feel like a long time but also not a long time at all.
With everything that you accomplish in your career, why look at a sixth year?
“Part of that was just looking at my draft — whatever you call — position, draft-ability. I felt like it was just an opportunity to boost that in a sense. It became one of those things where I just had to make that choice. Frankly, it was probably the one that scared me the most — coming back. You can look at this decision and if it doesn't go well, then you probably look like the biggest loser of them all. Because the NFL is such a small percentage of success rate, but in college you have a better success rate. Part of it was just knowing that the odds were still going to be stacked against me no matter what I chose, but I just felt like the opportunity talking with Coach Freeman and it was just getting around guys. I got around Josh Lugg when I visited. He was here starting to get ready for his Pro Day, his NFL career. It resonated with me what he said and kind of how he acted. It wasn't like this big sell. It was just this is what you're going to come to and this is kind of what you're going to get into and what you're coming to and it all has married up.
What was February like for you with Tommy Rees leaving?
“It feels like forever ago. We just got out of a QB meeting and coach Gino’s doing a really good job working with coach Parker. We're full steam ahead. It seems like light years ago. Coach Rees, it's a business decision and it was understood. We've put the pedal to the metal with spring ball coming up. We have spring break next week. We're trying to get in as much as we can and install-wise. As the old saying goes, it is what it is. There wasn't much to it. We got the guys hired. We're excited, and the QB room’s fired up. I really like what coach Gino’s done. He's obviously had a very successful record with quarterbacks and then college football in general. He's very sharp. You guys will talk to him. You’ll see him. He's very personable. We've jelled really well in a short amount of time. For me, it's different. I had the same coach for five years. It was it was all new to me, but it's the guys around you that kind of kept you in it for those couple weeks we were in limbo. Then you get your orders and you go.”
How much did you want and need to get on the same page with coach Parker in terms of what he sees the offense becoming with him as the coordinator?
“We always say trust is built over time and all that. That's what's happening. More and more as we get out and do our player-led practices or he scripts stuff or I meet with him, talk with him, there's really no drop off. I've enjoyed just getting to know him. A lot of the coordinator/quarterback relations is just about a relationship. I've really enjoyed just meeting him, met his kids, went and fished at his house actually this past weekend. It’s building that trust, building that confidence that he's going to call the right play, and I'm going to execute it to the ability that I need to. If we're on the wrong page, being able to be like ‘Hey, this is what I'm thinking. This is how I'm seeing this or not.’ It's going really well. For him it's all new. For me it's all new. So, we're kind of in the same boat. It's just going to be building trust in him, him trusting me and we roll.”
What's been your impression of the wide receiver group?
“Really well. Lifts are hard, I'm sure as you guys have heard. So it's just impressive. Guys are still coming in and getting extra work and helping me learn, which is new or kind of an old feeling to me when I was like a freshman and sophomore at Wake. I feel like the young buck, but they're great with just being like, ‘No, it’s supposed to be like this,’ or ‘This is how we did it.’ Or I'd be like, ‘Hey, let's try it this way. If you like it, let's do it. This is how we did it back in the day.’ I forget sometimes I'm pretty old here. So some of these younger guys like Tobias are a couple years younger than me. It's just great. It's everybody from top to bottom — O-line and whatnot. It's cool to be able to come in and not really feel like I had to do anything extra, do anything less to fit in. It’s a great group and a great locker room culture that's established by the head man himself and kind of just carries over from there.”
Did you feel like you had to score a bunch at Wake Forest? Your interception total was high at times. Was that a reflection of having to score a lot in order for Wake Forest to win games?
“No. I think some of it was just bad decisions. Some of it’s bad luck. Interceptions come. As a quarterback it's just going to happen. You throw the ball a lot. You make different decisions. Guys make plays on balls. We were a high-scoring offensive. We were fast pace. We ran 80, 90 plays. You look at the amount of plays we run to anything else, those percentages, they are what they are. They're interceptions. So, I don't really see it being much of a correlation of anything.”
But you like to push the ball downfield?
“Tend to, yeah.”
That's a big part of your game, right? You're not dinking and dunking a whole bunch. You're getting the ball down the field.
“That's how a lot of teams played us just based on our offense, based on our weapons as well. As we got older and our group grew. You see the same here. It's just the trust and timing all across the board from your offense coordinator trusting you guys to go down and make plays and you trusting a receiver to go up and make a play. A lot of it’s really based on what the defense gives you and how they feel like you guys match up. Some teams felt like, ‘We're not going to let you.’ You look at the tape from last year, a lot of teams played back and didn't let us throw the ball deep. Then we played certain teams that wanted to pressure and then we took shots.”
(more)
Questions may be paraphrased. Quotes aren't.
SAM HARTMAN
What are you doing here?
“What am I doing here? It's probably the same reason a lot of people are here. You kind of look around and you see the tradition, you see the football history, you see the old national championship trophies, the gold helmets, the Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus. And then you see an opportunity to play football again. Through my career you watch a lot of my teammates at Wake and people in general that I grew up with playing football, this is probably the one sport you can't just get together with a group of guys and just play on any Saturday or any Sunday. This is a great opportunity for myself to, one, take a challenge and a leap of faith in a program and, two, just a great opportunity to play the great sport we call football. I love football. I love playing it. Love being around the guys. From what I had heard before and has been reaffirmed since being here, it's a great group of guys, great culture, great everything. It's been very reassuring. I’ve been here for I feel like a long time but also not a long time at all.
With everything that you accomplish in your career, why look at a sixth year?
“Part of that was just looking at my draft — whatever you call — position, draft-ability. I felt like it was just an opportunity to boost that in a sense. It became one of those things where I just had to make that choice. Frankly, it was probably the one that scared me the most — coming back. You can look at this decision and if it doesn't go well, then you probably look like the biggest loser of them all. Because the NFL is such a small percentage of success rate, but in college you have a better success rate. Part of it was just knowing that the odds were still going to be stacked against me no matter what I chose, but I just felt like the opportunity talking with Coach Freeman and it was just getting around guys. I got around Josh Lugg when I visited. He was here starting to get ready for his Pro Day, his NFL career. It resonated with me what he said and kind of how he acted. It wasn't like this big sell. It was just this is what you're going to come to and this is kind of what you're going to get into and what you're coming to and it all has married up.
What was February like for you with Tommy Rees leaving?
“It feels like forever ago. We just got out of a QB meeting and coach Gino’s doing a really good job working with coach Parker. We're full steam ahead. It seems like light years ago. Coach Rees, it's a business decision and it was understood. We've put the pedal to the metal with spring ball coming up. We have spring break next week. We're trying to get in as much as we can and install-wise. As the old saying goes, it is what it is. There wasn't much to it. We got the guys hired. We're excited, and the QB room’s fired up. I really like what coach Gino’s done. He's obviously had a very successful record with quarterbacks and then college football in general. He's very sharp. You guys will talk to him. You’ll see him. He's very personable. We've jelled really well in a short amount of time. For me, it's different. I had the same coach for five years. It was it was all new to me, but it's the guys around you that kind of kept you in it for those couple weeks we were in limbo. Then you get your orders and you go.”
How much did you want and need to get on the same page with coach Parker in terms of what he sees the offense becoming with him as the coordinator?
“We always say trust is built over time and all that. That's what's happening. More and more as we get out and do our player-led practices or he scripts stuff or I meet with him, talk with him, there's really no drop off. I've enjoyed just getting to know him. A lot of the coordinator/quarterback relations is just about a relationship. I've really enjoyed just meeting him, met his kids, went and fished at his house actually this past weekend. It’s building that trust, building that confidence that he's going to call the right play, and I'm going to execute it to the ability that I need to. If we're on the wrong page, being able to be like ‘Hey, this is what I'm thinking. This is how I'm seeing this or not.’ It's going really well. For him it's all new. For me it's all new. So, we're kind of in the same boat. It's just going to be building trust in him, him trusting me and we roll.”
What's been your impression of the wide receiver group?
“Really well. Lifts are hard, I'm sure as you guys have heard. So it's just impressive. Guys are still coming in and getting extra work and helping me learn, which is new or kind of an old feeling to me when I was like a freshman and sophomore at Wake. I feel like the young buck, but they're great with just being like, ‘No, it’s supposed to be like this,’ or ‘This is how we did it.’ Or I'd be like, ‘Hey, let's try it this way. If you like it, let's do it. This is how we did it back in the day.’ I forget sometimes I'm pretty old here. So some of these younger guys like Tobias are a couple years younger than me. It's just great. It's everybody from top to bottom — O-line and whatnot. It's cool to be able to come in and not really feel like I had to do anything extra, do anything less to fit in. It’s a great group and a great locker room culture that's established by the head man himself and kind of just carries over from there.”
Did you feel like you had to score a bunch at Wake Forest? Your interception total was high at times. Was that a reflection of having to score a lot in order for Wake Forest to win games?
“No. I think some of it was just bad decisions. Some of it’s bad luck. Interceptions come. As a quarterback it's just going to happen. You throw the ball a lot. You make different decisions. Guys make plays on balls. We were a high-scoring offensive. We were fast pace. We ran 80, 90 plays. You look at the amount of plays we run to anything else, those percentages, they are what they are. They're interceptions. So, I don't really see it being much of a correlation of anything.”
But you like to push the ball downfield?
“Tend to, yeah.”
That's a big part of your game, right? You're not dinking and dunking a whole bunch. You're getting the ball down the field.
“That's how a lot of teams played us just based on our offense, based on our weapons as well. As we got older and our group grew. You see the same here. It's just the trust and timing all across the board from your offense coordinator trusting you guys to go down and make plays and you trusting a receiver to go up and make a play. A lot of it’s really based on what the defense gives you and how they feel like you guys match up. Some teams felt like, ‘We're not going to let you.’ You look at the tape from last year, a lot of teams played back and didn't let us throw the ball deep. Then we played certain teams that wanted to pressure and then we took shots.”
(more)
