Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Sam Hartman has decided that he will not play in the Sun Bowl as he instead decided to opt out and focus on preparing for the upcoming NFL Draft. And it sounds like head coach Marcus Freeman does not agree with the quarterback’s decision not to play in the game.
During a recent press conference, Marcus Freeman addressed the decision from Sam Hartman, saying it was Hartman’s decision and that Hartman should be the one to explain it.
“Yeah, you’ll have to ask Sam,” Freeman said according to On3. “He made the decision that he’s gonna opt-out and he talked to the people that he felt are important in his life and made a decision that he felt was best for him.”
Freeman went on to make it clear that he disagreed with Hartman’s decision to opt out, but that he still supports Hartman.
“And as I’ve told all of the guys that have opted-out, I can disagree with your decision and still support you,” Freeman said. “That’s the same thing I told Sam and every single other one that opted out. I disagree. I think you should play, but I love you, and I support you and you’re gonna do great things.”
Bowl opt-outs have become much more normalized in recent years, and it sounds like that’s something that Freeman is going to have to get used to.
