Now that the Notre Dame football team has officially started fall camp, some familiar faces were showing up and showing out. None of those faces was as familiar as Tyler Buchner's. It's been a wild ride for the backup quarterback, that included leaving South Bend and then coming back.
Notre Dame signed Elite 11 finalist Tyler Buchner in the 2021 class with high hopes. He appeared in 10 games as a true freshman, and he was named the starter in 2022 but was hurt in the second game of the season and didn't return to the field until the Gator Bowl against South Carolina. The Irish then brought in quarterback Sam Harman from Wake Forest and Buchner transferrred out, eventually landing at Alabama. On Dec. 20, 2023, he announced he was returning to Notre Dame to play for the Irish lacrosse program.
Veteran presence steadies a youthful Notre Dame quarterback room
Buchner made his return to the Notre Dame football team just five months later as a wide receiver and now this year, he's back in the quarterback room. He knows he's not going to get playing time unless things go very wrong. But he'll provide a valuable veteran presence.
"He’s been itching to get back in that room," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said during his press conference on Thursday afternoon. “If you watched the wide receiver individual drills last year, he was throwing the ball."
“When Steve [Angeli] decided to leave, we felt like we wanted more experience in that room,” Freeman continued. “His job is to make the room better — and get better yourself. I see him doing that. He’s helping Blake [Hebert] and working with Kenny and CJ — through his experience — while becoming a better player himself. I’m glad to have him back in there.”
The Notre Dame football team will need everyone to chip in. That includes in unusual ways like Tyler Buchner.