From RECORD BREAKING QB to UNDRAFTED (What Happened to Sam Hartman?)

if You' have been paying attention to college football over the last few years you have definitely heard the name Sam Hartman whether it was his school record-breaking career at Wake Forest or his one year as the starter at Notre Dame Sam Hartman is a guy that pretty much everyone knows about what's crazy though is he has been around for a long time and has been through a lot Not only was he the backup to Will Greer in high school but he also tragically lost someone super close to him helped have one of the best seasons in Wake Forest history and had an up and down year at Notre Dame despite statistically being your the top in multiple areas in college football Sam Hartman went undrafted in the 2024 NFL draft How could a guy with such big numbers so much experience and so much hype not get selected well in today's video we're to talk about Sam Hartman this will be a typical video where I go through the rise in Fall of a player and we're to talk about who this guy is his crazy long career and why he ultimately went undrafted but before we get started if you're a big fan of college football be sure to subscribe to the channel leave a like if you want to support today's video and let me know what player team topic or situation I could cover next now let's get started and talk about Sam Hartman in order to understand how Hartman got to this point we first need to go back in time he ended up coming up in the North Carolina football area and as a sophomore he led his team to a high school team state championship he was also named a first team All State selection and threw for 2600 yards with 24 touchdowns and four picks his coach Chad Greer said quote I just want him to continue to embrace the process and the progress yeah so Chad Greer was the coach at the time and at one point Hartman was the backup to Will Greer who was a five-star recruit who played at both Florida and West Virginia that's how long ago Sam Hartman was playing High School football and now he's just entering the NFL as a rookie to me it's crazy at one point Hartman was compared to Drew Brees and he would continue to get better and better throughout his time at davidson day high school he had a couple of notable moments including one game in a Friday night in Asheville in that game he threw for 493 yards against Irwin high and this is when everybody knew that Hartman had super super star potential except though what makes us even crazier is that 3 weeks before doctors were removing a baseball-sized growth from his neck this was the result of a bacteria infection and he dropped from 173 lb to 149 lb in Just 2 weeks Chad Greer said quote I've never seen or heard anything like this if you had seen him when he lost all the weight you would not recognize him I'm telling you he did not look good as it turns out Hartman had a small tear in his thyroid gland and this allowed bacteria to go into to his shoulder what started as mild pain in his shoulder ended up growing a lot worse and the pain would travel from his shoulder to his neck his throat became so sore that he couldn't even eat and he was already having trouble sleeping to begin with but Hartman was a determined guy Chad Greer said quote he grew an inch in the offseason to 6'1 and then he put on muscle he looked great and then in a matter of weeks it was all gone but when he got out of the hospital he was so determined to play against Asheville I wasn't going to be the one to tell him that he wasn't going to play so he ended up playing while he was in the hospital there were some doubts about him returning to the team but one day he walked through the halls and saw all the children that were being treated for cancer those guys are being robbed of their hair and potentially their life he said quote seeing the chemo room and all the kids in there they have no hair and they're walking around having fun I looked at my situation and I said I'm blessed and luckier than they are and they're happier than me that immediately switched my mindset while that was all difficult for him it would not be the only difficult moment for Hartman sadly they had tragedy they had adopted an older brother by the name of Demitri Allison and at the age of 21 he decided to take his own life this would happen on November 11th of 2015 just 2 days before davidson day was supposed to play in the state championship Allison was a football player at Elon and he was struggling behind the scenes this is really unfortunate two days after his death Sam switched his jersey number to 10 and then LED David S Day to a 31-4 win to claim a state championship as a junior in 2016 Hartman became main stream as he finished with 3700 yard and 45 touchdowns he also only had six interceptions and had a couple of big performances as in one game he had 493 yards and then another one he had 568 yards and seven touchdowns Hartman was definitely a star but where was he going to go well he said he found the perfect fit pretty much right away and there was no use in waiting around he was determined and he chose to commit to Wake Forest early on as they were one of his first offers Hartman said quote I'm 100% to wake I loved wake right away and and I wanted to get solid football and a great education there's no other place out there like wake that can provide great football and great education and it's close he apparently chose wake over both Elon and Charlotte and I guess as you can tell he wasn't exactly the biggest name in the world despite big numbers he was extremely underrated for sure Chad Greer said quote he didn't make this commitment lightly he wouldn't have made that decision if he wasn't sure he was a good fit at wake and I think they've seen the same thing that other coaching staffs are seeing I had a coach from Penn State called me a week ago and told me he's better than 100 other 2018 quarterbacks he said that Sam was the best that he's seen while his time at davidson day was great he decided to go over to Oceanside High School for one last year he ended up throwing for 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns with nine more scores on the ground why did he leave well he was going to be on the show qb1 Beyond the Lights he said quote qb1 perfectly depicts the low level of competition at Oceanside the main reason I transferred down there was the focus on my leadership skills and to try to take over a locker room of guys I've never met that's something I wanted to do here at wake and I learned a lot from that experience what's crazy is Sam Hartman only had three scholarship offers coming out of high school despite putting up monster stats he was a high school All-American and dominated each and every year and commanded each and every room despite all that he was only considered a three star recruit the number 32 Pro style quarterback and the 767 best player in the class of 2018 so how would Sam Hartman do over at Wake Forest when Sam Hartman would arrive at Wake Forest he was tagged as as the team's starting quarterback their first game would come against tulan and he apparently beat out Jamie Newman Newman would have a quad injury on August 18th and would miss some practice because of that after that the job belonged to Hartman and he would have been third string but their main starting quarterback Kendall Hinton was suspended three games just like he had always done Hartman played terrific in the first three games of the year he led all freshman in the country for yards of offense and he led them to a 4 and four record before he would suffer a brutal injury against Syracuse this would hold him out for the remainder of the season and Hartman in 2018 threw for 1900 yards with 16 touchdowns and eight picks in 2019 he would battle out with Jamie Newman for the starting spot but would end up losing the job Hartman would appear in four games throwing for 830 yards and four touchdowns while keeping his red shirt status as Jamie Newman decided to go off to Georgia and then quit on the team Sam Hartman gladly took over the starting nod in 20120 he became the team captain and and would play in all nine games he threw for 2200 yards with 13 touchdowns and five interceptions going into 2021 Hartman was starting to get a considerable amount of hype he'd end up building upon his past 3 years as he led Wake Forest to an 8 no start a couple of these games were extremely thrilling as they barely beat Louisville and then beat Syracuse in an overtime game it all climaxed with a 45 to7 blowout over Duke and now Wake Forest was 8-0 and Hartman was on top of the college football World sadly though the next game had proved to be difficult in a dual with Sam Howell Hartman would throw for 400 yards and five touchdowns and also ran for two more in total he had seven scores but they lost 58 to 55 in a thriller against the Tar Heels after that he lead them to a bounceback win with four touchdowns against number 16 NC State before having an awful performance against Clemson he finished the regular season with a win over Boston College and Wake Forest would get to the ACC Championship game in a battle with Kenny picket he would have three touchdowns but he had four costly interceptions as number 15 pit blew them out 45 to 21 in total he set multiple wake four single season records including 39 touchdown passes in 4,200 yard this was a huge deal for him and then going into 2022 he was seen as a top five quarterback in the country sadly though things would be really difficult for him as he would develop a blood clot under his collar bone and many thought this could hold him out for a lot of time he ended up having surgery and a rib was actually removed from his body to alleviate pressure what's really funny is he actually woree the thing in a necklace around his neck I remember that going viral he would miss their season opener against VMI but would return for their second game against Vanderbilt from there Hartman would have a good year as he threw seven touchdowns in his first two games against Liberty and Vanderbilt and then had six touchdowns and a double overtime loss to Clemson after that he helped them beat number 23 Florida State and then with wins over Army and Boston College Wake was off to a 5-1 start sadly some losing would start to happen as he struggled B turnovers against Louisville NC State in North Carolina and they lost all three of those games they did have a win against Syracuse but they would lose their final game against Duke and Hartman kind of had an underwhelming end of the year they'd end up going to they'd end up going to the gas Barilla Bowl where they would play against missou my team and Hartman would throw three touchdowns they would win that game and in total he threw for 3,700 yards with 38 touchdowns and 12 pick normally a guy like Sam Hartman would be done but with the exter year of eligibility in 2020 he could use it to his advantage while at Wake Forest he became the acc's all-time leader in touchdown passes and became college football's active leader in career passing yards he had 110 touchdowns and nearly 13,000 yards he would decide to enter the 2023 transfer portal and plenty of schools won of his talents ultimately he would decide to go up to South Bend Indiana and would really Vibe at Marcus Freeman and the coaching staff there he was trying to set himself up for a great season at a higher level and help himself get over to the NFL sadly honestly Hartman was Prett underwhelming in 2023 though while he did get off to a hot start it was only temporary he had four touchdowns against Navy three against Tennessee State four against NC State and four against Central Michigan but no one really cared about those games everyone was wondering how he would perform against Ohio State in one of the biggest non-con games of the Year Sam Hartman disappeared he ended up throwing for 175 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions I was personally at this game and it was pretty thrilling and no offense but Sam Hartman was made of glass I think there were two or three times where he could have gotten a first down on fourth down but he just didn't want to take a hit I thought Sam Hartman played extremely soft and looked honestly scared ultimately Ohio state would score a last second touchdown and this was a big blow to Notre Dame's playoff hopes after that Hartman would completely disappear against number 17 Duke as despite not throwing a touchdown they would end up beating the Blue Devils 21 to 14 after that he' throw three interceptions and a loss to the Cinderella Louisville Cardinals and many were starting to turn on Hartman in three games against ranked teams he had pretty much completely disappeared but he would bounce back in a home victory over number 10 USC Hartman with throw for two touchdowns in that one and the crowd was back on his side sadly he didn't help himself as the following week against pit he had two interceptions without a touchdown in that one but they won 58 to7 now Hartman would play in his fifth Big Time game in six weeks as they would go on the road to Clemson for a guy who should have 6 years of starting experience he really didn't play well he had 146 yards without a passing touchdown and two interceptions besides one rushing score Hartman was pretty much a non-factor and Notre Dame lost 31 to 23 to Clemson after that in a return game against wake he threw for four scores in that one and then would finish his Notre Dame career with two touchdowns and win over Stanford in total he threw for 2600 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight picks no offense but in the five biggest games of the year he really didn't do a whole lot he struggled with turnovers they only won two of those games and Hartman was brought into to win big and put up big numbers it really just didn't happen and in my eyes the season was underwhelming for Hartman it kind of showed that maybe he was overrated coming out of wake but still he was a good quarterback and a good guy and was especially a great leader I'm sure if he had another year of Eligibility he would have used it but he decided to declare for the 2024 NFL draft where he was listed as a fringe draft pick many saw him more as an undrafted free agent and a quarterback that could maybe make the roster as a career backup to mainstream NFL and football fans pretty much everyone knew him for his hair but that was not going to get him drafted as the draft went on his name was not called and he was eventually picked up by the Washington commanders he'll try to fight to be that third quarterback on the roster but why did Sam Hartman go undrafted well I have three reasons one his age well Hartman did play six years of college football and that benefited him that doesn't help he's already a pretty old guy and not many teams are wanting to take a chance on a player that old who doesn't have significant upside that leads me to point number two while he does have some decent qualities he wasn't exactly great in any area he didn't have a super arm he wasn't super mobile he wasn't super dominant in college and seemingly he was just average or above average in every category he was the definition of a good college quarterback who didn't exactly excel in any area in terms of making it to the next level that also brings me to my third point and that is just a stigma everyone knew Sam Hartman was great at Wake Forest but how would he do against the better teams at a bigger school on a bigger stage unfortunately Sam Hartman did not live up to the hype while his numbers were not bad he just didn't pass the eye test he really didn't beat any big teams his numbers went down and he underwhelmed compared to all the hype and how good he should have been for those three reasons that's why I believe Sam Hartman was undrafted as it was his age the eye test and just him being average in every category for example a guy like Devon ly was drafted just based on his arm as Hartman was better than him in every area but ly had one trait that could at least be developed the same could be said for a guy like Joe Milton or Michael Pratt Hartman ended up going undrafted but he had a pretty crazy career it seems like he's been in college football for a long time now and it's sad to see the guy go and I wish him the best of luck with the commanders but what do you guys think if you're a fan of Sam Hartman why do you think he went undrafted if you're Notre Dame fan what are your thoughts on him in his season in Notre Dame and his one year in South Bend and what other Prospect or player should I take a look at next be sure to let me know down below leave a like if you want to support today's video subscribe if you're new and check out all my other videos on the end screen hope to see you guys again soon but until next time peace