Notre Dame football: Sam Hartman struggles mightily in Senior Bowl
It’s possible that former Notre Dame football quarterback Sam Hartman might be regretting not using the Sun Bowl as one of his final tryouts for the NFL. Certainly, he’d probably like the Senior Bowl to not be that final tryout before official workout days.
While Hartman was impressing people leading up to the actual college football all-star game, he didn’t exactly blow people away once it was live-action against people trying to tackle him. Or intercept his passes.
It’s especially unfortunate for the former Notre Dame football star considering that he had a chance to really make a statement. Thanks to Washington quarterback Michael Penix deciding not to play after practicing all week, Hartman got quite a bit of action in the Senior Bowl.
One could argue that he saw enough action that his stats were big enough that he basically played the whole game. Unfortunately, he didn’t play particularly well. The Wake Forest transfer finished just 7-of-25 passing for 69 yards and an interception.
That interception by the way, was made by Louisville cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr who returned the pick 32 yards before Hartman forced him out of bounds. That play continued what has been a bizarre continuation of complete and total domination of Hartman by Louisville.
Over his final two games against the Cardinals, Hartman committed 11 turnovers: five lost fumbles and six interceptions. This would technically be the seventh by a member of that team. It’s a safe bet that the former Golden Domer is glad to be going to the NFL for no other reason than he doesn’t have to worry about his old ACC rival anymore.
Hopefully he won’t have to play Arizona anytime soon once he gets to the league.
Notre Dame football: Sam Hartman struggles mightily in Senior Bowl
Some of Hartman’s struggles can certainly be chalked up to only having a week to get used to his new teammates. There were plenty of times when the ex-Notre Dame football star was gunning for receivers down field where it was clear they just weren’t on the same page.
Whatever the rationale, Sam Hartman has to wish his numbers looked quite a bit better than they did.