Back in late September of 2018, Notre Dame was riding a 3-0 start but struggling mightily on offense. Brian Kelly decided before the Wake Forest game that Ian Book would replace Brandon Wimbush as the starting quarterback and after guiding the Irish to a 56-27 victory, the rest was pretty much history in terms of that quarterback controversy.
Plenty of people thought they had seen a glimpse of Notre Dame’s future beyond Book at quarterback when Phil Jurkovec got playing time late. It was a different young quarterback from that afternoon that would go on to play for the Irish years later, though.
Sam Hartman was a freshman playing in just his fourth game at Wake Forest that day. It was a day he’s probably long forgotten or at least put in his past as it was one of his roughest for the Demon Deacons.
Hartman completed just 12 of 24 passes for 110 yards. He threw for no scores, ran for no touchdowns, but didn’t turn the ball over, either. After having rushed for over 60 yards in each of his first three games, Hartman was swallowed up by Clark Lea’s defense, putting up just 11 rushing yards on 16 attempts (3 sacks included).
Here’s to hoping (and assuming) Hartman will play a lot better as a 23 year old for Notre Dame than he did as an 18 year old against them.
Related items –
5 immediate thoughts on Sam Hartman’s game-changing decision
Notre Dame fans clearly thrilled for Hartman’s arrival
Here are some pictures from that game five years ago in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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