Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman rose to prominence at Wake Forest before transferring to the Fighting Irish for the 2023 season. In a twist of fate, Hartman’s final home game with Notre Dame was a 45-7 victory over his former school in Week 12, and it even featured a video tribute to Hartman that irked Demon Deacons coach Dave Clawson.
Although Hartman’s impact at Notre Dame has been pronounced in 2023 — he’s passed for 2,549 and 22 touchdowns with seven interceptions entering Week 13 — Clawson couldn’t help but chuckle at the Fighting Irish’s message for a quarterback who spent the overwhelming majority of his career at Wake Forest.
“We saw it last week [at Notre Dame],” Clawson said during his midweek press conference. “Here’s a guy [Hartman] we recruited and we developed, and they are putting on a video of him, saying ‘We will always love you.’ I’m like, you only dated him for a couple of months. It can’t be love. We are the ones who love him. We had five years with him. You rented him for a season. They bought him and rented him for a year, and now they love him. When that video played, it’s just like, holy cow, this is where college football is.
