Perspective applied to Sam Hartman’s return

WINSTON-SALEM – A lot has happened in a month. Well, not even a month.

Yet.

Saturday will mark the one-month anniversary of Wake Forest’s announcement that quarterback Sam Hartman would be out indefinitely. As announced by the program Tuesday, that’s also the day Hartman will return for the Deacons.

Wake’s fifth-year quarterback underwent surgery on Aug. 9 to alleviate a blood clot in his subclavian vein, according to Dr. Julie A. Freischlag, a renowned vascular surgeon who is also CEO of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, Dean of Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Chief Academic Officer of Atrium Health.

On Aug. 10 we learned only that Hartman would miss an indefinite amount of time with a non-football medical issue, and coach Dave Clawson revealed that he had undergone a procedure of some sort. We know now the severity of the situation; Clawson’s reluctance to attach any timeline to Hartman’s return and his repeated point that his concern was Hartman’s health now has context.

“When this whole thing happens, football is the last thing on your mind,” Clawson said. “You’re very concerned about his health and everything’s going to be OK, and then as we got good news on that, I mean, we just wanted him to be healthy.”

An appointment on Friday and what additional testing revealed ultimately paved the way for Hartman to be fully cleared.

“On Friday, we did another follow-up ultrasound on Sam and everything looked great,” Freischlag said through a news release. “The clot was gone, the blood flow was good and he felt great. Blood thinner therapies were discontinued once they became medically unnecessary and he is medically cleared to return to full competition.”

The blood clot arose because of a condition known as Paget-Schroetter sydrome, or effort thrombosis. Freischlag is one of the world's leading experts on the condition, and per the release thinks it is related to the situation that landed Hartman in the hospital before his junior season of high school football and left him with a scar across his neck.

That was in 2016, when a birth defect in Hartman's thyroid caused a bacteria buildup in his left shoulder. His high school coach, Chad Grier, told a hospitalized Hartman that the team would welcome him back in Week 8, to which Hartman replied that he'd be playing in the opener -- which he did.

Hartman’s initial statement on Aug. 10 included that he was going to “attack” the rehabilitation process and, by all accounts and as history would've told you, he did just that.

He will not be doing interviews before Wake’s game at Vanderbilt on Saturday, but released a quote in the program’s release about his clearance.

“This process has made me appreciate all the people at Wake Forest University and around our football program for how they care for us as student-athletes,” Hartman said through a news release. “I am very appreciative of Dr. Julie Freischlag, Dr. Matthew Goldman, Niles Fleet and everyone on our medical staff who worked with me throughout this process.”

If it wasn’t already clear: This has always been more about a life-threatening medical condition being handled appropriately and discretely, less about putting a timeline on Hartman’s return to the field.

That’s where we come back to the timeline. Clawson was obvious in that first day that there was no timeframe because it was too early to tell.

He shined light on those feelings Tuesday, also.

“Whether he was going to play or not this year was really secondary,” Clawson said. “As we found out more about it, the possibility of him playing, we’re excited about it.

“We’re getting back our captain, one of the best leaders that we’ve ever had here, and a really good football player.”

While Tuesday felt like equal parts rejoice and relief for Wake Forest fans – it’s been lining up that way for about a week for those inside the program.

Hartman was throwing in 7-on-7 work last week and practiced Sunday and Tuesday morning (the Deacons didn’t practice Monday). Clawson’s post-practice announcement that Hartman was fully cleared felt more like a formality than breaking news.

“It was definitely a big eruption today when (Clawson) said we were making that announcement,” fifth-year center Michael Jurgens said. “Just honestly, Sam as person has put so much work into this and he’s been through so much, happy to have him.”

Nothing can be said about this situation without a tip of the cap to Mitch Griffis. The third-year quarterback completed 21 of 29 passes for 288 yards and three touchdowns in last week’s 44-10 win over VMI and looked every bit the capable QB that you’d hope for a player in his first start.

The silver lining of this is that Wake Forest, for probably the first time since 2019 with Jamie Newman and Hartman, knows it has two starting-caliber quarterbacks on its roster.

Of course, keeping things in perspective: One of those QBs has one start under his belt; the other is on the verge of owning all significant career passing records at Wake Forest.

“We’re all fired up for it,” linebacker Ryan Smenda Jr. said. “Michael Kern and Mitch Griffis, they stepped up and helped us get that win.

"But Deacon Nation, we’re all obviously fired up that he’s coming back.”