Wake Forest Coach Dave Clawson Mocks Notre Dame For Honoring Sam Hartman, Puts Today's College Football In Perspective

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This past weekend's game against Notre Dame was a unique one for Wake Forest and the head coach of the Demon Deacons, Dave Clawson, with Sam Hartman on the opposing sideline for the Fighting Irish.

Hartman played five seasons at Wake Forest throwing 110 touchdown passes during his time in Winston-Salem before bolting for South Bend for his final collegiate season. It's no secret that Notre Dame was able to provide the QB with not only more NIL opportunities, but a chance to play on one of college football's biggest stages.

Clawson is well aware of that reality, but that doesn't mean it wasn't weird for him to see Notre Dame honor Hartman with a tribute video during what was his senior night for the Irish. The video's message of "we will always love you" specifically stood out to the Wake Forest head coach.

"Here’s a guy that we recruited, and we developed. You know, they’re putting a video on him saying, ‘We will always love you,’" Clawson said during a press conference.

"Like, you only dated him for a couple of months. It can’t be love. We’re the ones that love him. We had five years with him. You rented him for a season. They bought him and rented him for a year, and now they love him? When the video played, it's just like, holy cow, this is where college football is."

Dave Clawson's Perspective On Sam Hartman Is A Fair One

Nothing Clawson said was inaccurate. Wake Forest recruited Hartman and developed him into the top-tier college quarterback he is today. Notre Dame was always going to honor Hartman on senior night, just as it and every other college football program does ahead of the final home game of the year, but the 'we love you' video ahead of just his 11th game for the Irish is an odd, and certainly new dynamic in college football.

Many want to compare college football to the NFL, and while the two have never been more similar, an NFL team certainly wouldn't be honoring a player who was headed out the door ahead of just their 11th game in uniform.

Hartman had a big-time game against his former team Saturday throwing for 277 yards and four touchdowns in Notre Dame's 45-7 win.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.