Sam Hartman shaved beard: Notre Dame quarterback trimmed facial hair to just mustache

Sam Hartman has been around college football for a long time — 2023 is his first year with Notre Dame, but his sixth in the FBS — but one of the side effects of heading to a program with the exposure of the Irish was an obsession with the 24 year old's beard.

From the first game when Notre Dame played Navy in Ireland, college football nation was commentating on Hartman's facial hair. It didn't hurt the QB played a nearly perfect game, completing 19 of 23 attempts for 251 yards and four touchdowns.

Hartman, however, shocked the world with a new look debuted during Notre Dame's bye week. The Fighting Irish social media account shared a boomerang of the quarterback looking alarmingly like Josh Brolin's depiction of Detective Nick Trupo in "American Gangster."

Maybe Hartman just figured Notre Dame needed bye week content.

REQUIRED READING: Slumping Tobias Merriweather dropped to second team for Notre Dame football offense

Why did Sam Hartman shave his beard?

There's not a definitive answer yet as to why Hartman decided to get rid of the beard ahead of the Pitt game.

Notre Dame had just had its most impactful win of the year over previously ninth-ranked USC, so it likely isn't on-field superstition. Perhaps he just wanted a change.

The shave also came a bit early for No-Shave November. Hartman has an NIL deal with Dollar Shave Club, so maybe we'll see more of the process in the future.

Ultimately, college football players don't have to justify to anyone why they change their face. But that isn't going to stop the online college football world from asking about it when it happens.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sam Hartman shaved beard: Notre Dame QB trimmed back to mustache