Notre Dame football: Could Drew Pyne be the starter in 2023?
By Brad Weiss
The Notre Dame football team has turned to junior Drew Pyne as the quarterback in 2022, but could he be a multi-year starter for the Irish?
Going into the 2022 college football season, sophomore Tyler Buchner and junior Drew Pyne were battling it out for the starting quarterback job. In the end, the coaching staff decided to go with Buchner, who has the ability to hurt teams with his legs and his arm.
Two games into his first season as the starter in South Bend, Buchner was injured, and the Irish had to turn to Pyne the rest of the way. Pyne struggled early on in his first start against Cal, and many Irish fans felt at that moment that the season was over.
However, since getting a tongue-lashing from Tommy Rees early in the win against Cal, Pyne has looked like a legitimate QB1, and it begs the question as to whether or not he will be the guy in 2023 as well. To date, he has tossed six touchdowns against only one interception, is completing nearly seventy percent of his passes, and is averaging ten yards per completion.
Those are great numbers, but are they enough to keep him as the QB1 next season?
Notre Dame football has help coming at quarterback
The truth is, Pyne could just be a place-holder for the Irish at the position, even if he continues to play well in 2022. Buchner won the job outright this summer, and likely goes into camp as the QB1 next summer, but with a strong season, Pyne could stake a claim that he has every right to take first-team snaps once the competition revs up again.
There is also the fact that Steve Angeli is now one play away from getting into the game as a true freshman, and he certainly looked good during the Blue-Gold Game a few months ago. While CJ Carr won’t be in South Bend until 2024 and does not figure into this equation, it is possible Buchner, Pyne, and Angeli would just be placeholders as well.
If Pyne continues to play at the level he did against UNC, and picks up wins against USC and Clemson, then it will be very hard for the program to just hand the position back to Buchner, especially with Buchner being widely inconsistent as the starter. Pyne just needs to keep his head down and lead this team and let the rest handle itself after the season.