Sam Hartman is trading the football field for The Bachelor Mansion.
The Washington Commanders quarterback has been announced as the next star of ABC‘s The Bachelor. Sam Hartman will lead the franchise’s 30th season, which premieres March 21.
“I’m excited but also very nervous,” Sam admitted during a Friday appearance on Good Morning America. “I have a tough time holding a conversation with one girl. Thirty is going to be pretty tough.”
Sam, a 2024 undrafted free agent, played four seasons at Wake Forest before transferring to Notre Dame for his final year of college football. He finished fourth in FBS history. The Season 30 Bachelor also holds several records for his performance on the field.
Despite his impressive athletic resume, Sam Hartman initially wasn’t sold on the idea of becoming the next Bachelor. His response when first approached about the opportunity? “No way.”
However, a conversation with The Bachelor host and former NFL player Jesse Palmer helped change his perspective. “He kind of gave me the insight of what it is, what it’s not,” Hartman explained.
“And I think anybody in their right mind, if you get told, ‘Hey, you’ve got a chance to go find the love of your life,’ I know one thing, when people are saying, ‘I do,’ they don’t ask you where you met, they ask if you wanna do it forever, and I don’t see any problem with that.”
Although Sam admitted he’s nervous about having his romantic life played out on national television, his Commanders teammates have already started offering advice. “Probably not gonna listen to anybody on that,” Sam joked. “But no, I’m excited.”
So, what is Sam Hartman hoping to find in his future wife? Someone with a competitive streak. “Competitiveness and somebody that I want to be able to chase,” he shared. “Not chase in a way that, ‘You haven’t texted me back in a week,’ but chase in a way that they have a drive for something and motivates me to wake up every day to chase them.”
The Bachelor returns to ABC on March 21. New episodes will be available to stream the next day on Hulu.
