Sam Hartman is finished at Wake Forest, leaving on a high note that won’t dim because of his next jersey
The ending beckoned.
On a night when it felt like Wake Forest was in control, the Deacons flirted with the prospect of losing another one of these one-score games. Yo-yoing across the 50-yard line with Missouri, failed fourth downs and penalties in key spots, Wake’s oft-maligned defense was protecting the three-point lead.
Coach Dave Clawson implored his offense: “Guys, you’re one score away from winning this thing.”
He was speaking to Wake’s offense, which for this final night, meant addressing the heartbeat of Wake’s team. It was time for quarterback Sam Hartman to deliver again.
One. Last. Time.
Hartman’s final pass as a Deacon was the delivery of that touchdown, a 16-yard strike to Taylor Morin that sealed Wake’s 27-17 win over Missouri in the Gasparilla Bowl on Friday night at Raymond James Stadium.
It was the quintessential throw for Hartman’s time at Wake Forest. Not all things align, but this did.
Quick progression of reads? Check. Tight window over the middle, requiring precision accuracy? Check. Frozen rope of a throw, placed perfectly between two defenders? Check. Thrown in a place where only his receiver could make a play? Check.
The last of Hartman’s 1,597 pass attempts as Wake’s quarterback was his 110th touchdown pass. It was preceded by a clutch 4-yard pass to A.T. Perry to convert a third-and-1, and then a 15-yard keeper by the man who hasn’t run that much this season.
Those were the on-field glimpses you’ll remember; his teammates and coaches will remember the other things.
Hartman was passing out souvenir coins in the post-game celebration. Through the ups and downs of his career, he’s maintained this quality of bringing others along with him.
And as far as what the enigmatic 23-year-old will remember most?
Well, he carries the bad memories closer than the good ones.
“I was talking to one of the other quarterbacks at pre-game meal and it was, ‘What are your biggest memories?’” Hartman said. “I’d honestly look back and say, you know, some of the biggest ones were the big losses and the ones where I really struggled and let a lot of people down.”
There’s a Big 3 here that you know by opponent: Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, Louisville.
What’s mattered to this program — no, what’s *shaped* this program — is how Hartman has responded to such games.
Take the abbreviated words of Wake’s men’s basketball coach just three nights prior.
“That’s life. It’s how you bounce back,” said Steve Forbes after his team went from losing by 24 at Rutgers to knocking off No. 14 Duke in a three-day span.
There might be a player who’s come to the end of his Wake Forest career having taken as many lumps as Hartman.
If you know who that would be, let me know; in my brief time around here, I’m drawing a blank.
You can make the Gasparilla Bowl into a microcosm of sorts — a hot start to the game like Hartman’s debut at Tulane, offensive struggles that followed like taking a back seat and redshirt in 2019, etc.
Honestly, Hartman’s career has taken more twists and turns — along with the removal of a rib — to fit it into one 60-minute game.
And the whole microcosm thing is lazy anyway.
Reality is never that tidy. It’s messy.
It’s smack-talking Zach Allen in the third game of your career and getting laid out by him a few plays later. It’s suffering a season-ending injury in your freshman season and watching your replacement direct a season-saving win five days later, and being there to congratulate your teammates when they return from Raleigh late that night — or early that morning, if we’re being technical.
It’s dedicating yourself to becoming a leader after the first four-interception game in Charlotte, getting back into the same stadium with larger stakes, and suffering a similar fate.
And it’s picking yourself up after such things to keep attacking a shared goal.
So you’re allowed to feel some mixed emotions about the best quarterback in Wake Forest suiting up for another team next season. It’s going to get even messier when he plays that team.
The pageantry of things has never been lost on Hartman.
The last reminder of this was Hartman reflecting who snapped him the ball two times in the final minute for him to kneel on Wake’s win; that was center Michael Jurgens, who came to Winston-Salem in January of 2018 with Hartman and has been a roommate of the quarterback since.
He came to Wake Forest and took the same jersey number as the previous starter, though his reason for it had nothing to do with John Wolford.
There shouldn’t be another player to wear No. 10 at Wake Forest.
When the Deacons needed one more play from No. 10, he delivered that bullet into Morin for the victory-sealing score.
It gets lost in the legend of Hartman how much this program needed him soon after he arrived in Winston-Salem, similar to his predecessor.
His battle with Jamie Newman to be Kendall Hinton’s backup became the battle to be the starter entering 2018, after Hinton’s summer suspension. Whether Newman or Hartman led that battle when the former pulled up lame in that final scrimmage of fall camp, we’ll never know.
What we do know is that Wake Forest went from having options at quarterback to turning over the reins to a 180-pound 19-year-old, and that kid is leaving as the ACC’s all-time touchdown pass leader.
This relationship between man and school, quarterback and football program, has come full circle. Wake Forest needed Hartman when he was a freshman; Hartman needed Wake Forest after the Duke’s Mayo Bowl; Wake Forest needed Hartman more times than you could count over the last two seasons.
He didn’t always deliver, and that’s OK. Both sides are ready to move forward.
The ending beckons.
