Notre Dame football: Sam Hartman is already changing narrative for Irish

Sam Hartman will not take his first official snap as a Notre Dame quarterback until roughly 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday when the Irish take on Navy. But the signal-caller is already making his impact known at Notre Dame.

No, not on the football field, although it seems like he’s done a heckuva job winning over his coaches and teammates despite only being on campus a few months.

Instead, Hartman is doing something that will help Notre Dame in an area it has seemingly fallen short in. And that doesn’t appear to be a coincidence.

If you’re not sure what I’m talking about: He’s selling Notre Dame to future recruits and potential transfers incredibly well.

Let’s examine.

All-In after Rees departure

Remember in early February when Tommy Rees accepted the offensive coordinator position at Alabama? The immediate fear for some Notre Dame fans was Sam Hartman was going to follow the boy wonder to Tuscaloosa.

That didn’t happen. Instead, Hartman was on social media right away declaring his commitment to Notre Dame (see video above).

Notre Dame NIL Spokesperson - Early Part

Early on at Notre Dame, Hartman was linked to some name, image and likeness work. It was similar to the majority of deals we’ve seen from Notre Dame players previously. It was with a very worthy cause: Ronald McDonald House Charities.

It's fun to stay at the ... Y-M-C-A

More of that followed a short time after when Hartman used his platform to teach youngsters about healthy eating at a local YMCA. It appeared the process was going to be the same for Hartman as they had been for pretty much every other Notre Dame player in recent years. Until …

Debuting the Green Jerseys

I don’t know if it wound up being name, image and likeness money for Hartman (and Audric Estime for that matter) or not, but Hartman gained more attention in late July when Notre Dame revealed its special green jerseys for the Ohio State game.  Hartman and Estime joined Marcus Freeman in making a spoof video of Jerry McGuire to unveil the jerseys. Like last year, the video produced an abundance of social media reaction.

Hartman - The Gift Giver (Pt. 1)

A few days before the Notre Dame football team departed for their season-opener in Ireland, the team’s social media channel was sure to catch and highlight Hartman working with Under Armour to stock the entire roster with some new shoes for the trip. This wasn’t some strange coincidence. Neither was what happened a few days later.

Hartman - The Gift Giver (Pt. 2)

Hartman signed an name, image and likeness deal with Beats by Dre, the popular headphone company, and, as you can see above, he gave the entire team a new pair of fancy headphones. As Mike Bernadino points out, that adds up to a roughly $40,000 gift for his teammates.

Hartman Selling Notre Dame to Recruits, Transfers

When you add it all up it’s clear Notre Dame and Hartman are working together here. It’s win-win for both parties and this again comes before the veteran quarterback has even played an official down for Notre Dame.

Much of the concern for Notre Dame has been about how the Irish are going to compete in the name, image and likeness world. Hartman having what is clearly a sizable deal with Beats by Dre and his work with Under Armour speaks to that.

I am hesitant to put too much stock in the accuracy of On3’s name, image and likeness profiles but they list Hartman as having a $1.1 million annual value.  That certainly should quiet some of the voices saying Notre Dame can’t compete in that game.

It’s incredibly wise by Notre Dame to showcase every second of it and make it clear the university can provide even more than the usual “4-for-40” talking points.

Story originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire