Looking forward to Notre Dame football’s 2023 season, it seems like all eyes are on the quarterback position.

The Irish arguably won the Transfer Portal Hunger Games by picking up Sam Hartman from Wake Forest. Hartman is far from the first Notre Dame QB to have high expectations but he’s definitely most highly touted in recent memory. Partly because of the chaos that defined the quarterback position during the Irish’s 2022 outing and also because of his incredible success helming the Demon Deacons’ offense.

In an earlier article, we broke down Notre Dame football’s top 5 scoring offenses over the last 30 years. As we set our expectations for Hartman this season, we’ll keep that same context. During this time period, we’ve seen some of the school’s most prolific passers and by analyzing the Top 5 Quarterbacks, we’ll get some general benchmarks to track Sam’s progress. This portion of the analysis focuses specifically on Total Completions per Season.

So here we go.

#1: Brady Quinn – 2005 Season

Brady Quinn completed a total of 292 passes during his 2005 (Junior) season. Overall, he averaged 24 completions per game with a season high of 33 against Michigan State (loss). Quinn had a very consistent season in terms of completions and never dropped below 18 completions per game (in the season opener against Pitt).

#2 (Tie): Brady Quinn – 2006 Season and Jimmy Clausen 2009 Season

Brady Quinn completed a total of 289 passes during his 2006 (Senior) season. Overall, he averaged 22 completions per game with a season high of 29 against Purdue (win). Quinn’s completion production ticked off through the second half of the season had a very consistent season in terms of completions and hit a season low of 14 completions late in the season against Air Force.

Jimmy Clausen completed a total of 289 passes during his 2009 (Junior) season. Overall, he averaged 24 completions per game with a season high of 37 against Navy (loss). Clausen’s completion production kicked up significantly through the back half of the season, although that didn’t translate into the team’s success.

#3: Tommy Rees – 2011 Season

Tommy Rees completed a total of 269 passes during his 2011 (Sophomore) season. Overall, he averaged 21 completions per game with a season high of 30 against Maryland (win). Ree’s completion production bounced around throughout the season, ranging from 13 to 30.

#4: Jimmy Clausen – 2008 Season

Jimmy Clausen completed a total of 268 passes during his 2008 (Sophomore) season. Overall, he averaged 21 completions per game with a season high of 31 against North Carolina (loss). Clausen’s completion production bounced around throughout the season, ranging from 10 to 31.

#5: Everett Golson – 2014 Season

Everett Golson completed a total of 256 passes during his 2014 (Senior) season. Overall, he averaged 20 completions per game with a season high of 31 against Florida State (loss). In a sense, Golson was on track to land close to Quinn’s #1 2005 season. The end of the season proved really rough, though, and he hit season lows of 7 against USC and 6 against LSU (bowl game).

Final Thoughts

For reference, Sam Hartman hit a career high of 299 completions during his 2021 outing for Wake Forest. He tallied up 270 completed passes for the Demon Deacons. It may be a stretch for Sam to come in and top Quinn’s 2005 season but I think that we should comfortably expect him to be among some of the Irish’s most prolific, recent passers.

Cheers and Go Irish!!