Sam Hartman rib necklace, explained: Why Notre Dame QB wears surgically removed bone

Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman has enjoyed a rollicking start to the 2023 season, leading the Fighting Irish to a 4-0 start to the season behind nearly spotless play.

The sixth-year transfer out of Wake Forest joined the Irish as the ACC's all-time leader in touchdown passes, and he has done nothing to undermine the hype around him heading into this year. Hartman has completed 71.1 percent of his passes through four games for 1,061 passing yards and 13 touchdowns with no interceptions blemishing his ratio.

Hartman is doing all of this with one of the more fascinating good-luck charms in college sports: A piece of his own rib, which he had surgically removed in response to Paget-Schroetter syndrome (PSS), a stress response to repeated compressions of the subclavian vein, per the National Library of Medicine.

It was the part of Hartman's rib nearest to his collarbone that was removed, which was done to ensure further blood clotting didn't occur in response due to Hartman's PSS.

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Why does Sam Hartman wear his rib around a necklace?

After Hartman had his rib removed in response to the PSS diagnosis, Hartman put it in his family freezer instead of disposing of it like patients normally do.

“It’s to get rid of the flesh that was on the rib,” Lisa Hartman, Hartman's mother, told The Athletic in July. “He means the world to me, so if he wants me to clean the flesh off of his ribs, then that’s what I’m gonna do.”

And that she did. The bone now looks like a puka shell necklace rather than part of a human's ribs, as Notre Dame showed off ahead of the Irish's first game against Navy in Ireland.

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"College Gameday" showed a less polished version of the rib during a segment on the saga of it.

Hartman doesn't always wear the necklace. But sometimes the existence of something is enough. So far, it's been enough for the Irish. Hartman is hoping it continues to bring good luck against Ohio State.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Why Notre Dame quarterback Sam Hartman wears his own rib as a necklace