Freeman must ponder new Plan B at ND after Buchner commits to Alabama
Tyler Buchner’s built-in U-turn to Notre Dame in his parting words didn’t feel like a plausible scenario when he posted them on Twitter two days ago.
On Thursday, the 6-foot-1, 215-pound junior confirmed as much, declaring Alabama as his landing spot after 48 hours on the transfer portal. That means Irish head football coach Marcus Freeman can officially ponder a new plan B to presumed No. 1 QB Sam Hartman.
Buchner will reunite with the man who recruited him, who believed in him through a tough injury history and a lost high school senior season due to COVID. That being first-year Crimson Tide offensive coordinator/QBs coach Tommy Rees, now in his third month in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Buchner has three years of eligibility remaining, thanks to an injury redshirt year in 2022. He will compete for the Alabama starting job with four other scholarship quarterbacks.
Freeman, meanwhile, needs to assess whether sophomore Steve Angeli or early enrolled freshman Kenny Minchey constitute enough quantity and quality should something happen to Hartman during the 2023 season.
Or do the Irish need to go portal shopping for a backup with more experience. The transfer portal closes at the end of the day Sunday for new entries, but players who have submitted their names and interested schools can take their time putting together matches.
Buchner entered the spring in a quarterback battle with Wake Forest graduate transfer Hartman, the ACC's all-time leader in passing touchdowns. The competition seemed like a formality from the outside, but Freeman and his coaching staff asserted throughout the spring that the two were in a genuine competition.
Notre Dame's Blue-Gold Game on Saturday only made the gap between the two seem bigger as Hartman led the Gold team to a 24-0 victory by accounting for all three touchdowns scored in the spring scrimmage. Hartman completed 13 of his 16 passes (81.3%) for 189 yards and two touchdowns and rushed once for a one-yard touchdown.
Buchner, who started three games last season, struggled to find any rhythm Saturday. He finished 8-of-18 passing (44.4%) for 44 yards with one interception. He was also sacked twice.
“No, I think we still have a quarterback battle," Freeman said Saturday when asked if Hartman made a move ahead of Buchner. "You can't determine a winner or a loser based off one practice — practice 15. You can't base a decision off of what we view in a certain outcome. There's a lot that goes into it. There's a lot that goes into a quarterback battle, but obviously the quarterback play.
"I know just being out there, we have to go back and watch the film. We're not blocking the end. There's some protection issues. We're dropping balls. We have to go and look: Were the routes exactly precise?
“I'm always going to defend the quarterbacks because, as I've always said, that position is most like the head coach’s. They get praise and criticism. Everybody's going to praise Sam for how we played today, and they're going to criticize Tyler. They both probably played pretty well. We have to look at the film. I know the stats might not say it.
"But listen, both of them are tremendously talented. And we'll go back and evaluate all 15 practices and continue to look at it as we move forward.”
Three days later, Buchner opted to move forward in the transfer portal.
Angeli, a former three-star recruit, played in two games last season as a true freshman. He didn't throw the ball in his seven snaps.
The only other scholarship quarterback on the roster after Angeli is early enrolled freshman Minchey, a former four-star recruit Rivals ranked as the No. 11 pro-style quarterback and No. 208 overall in the 2023 class.
When Notre Dame made it clear it planned to pursue a transfer quarterback this offseason, quarterback Drew Pyne, who started 10 games last season, entered the transfer portal first. Pyne, a junior last year, stepped into the starting role after Buchner was sidelined with a significant shoulder injury in the second game of the season against Marshall that kept Buchner out for the remainder of the regular season.
Freeman and Rees wanted to improve Notre Dame's quarterback play in the 2023 season, which led them to bringing in Hartman. Now Rees is overseeing a cloudy quarterback competition in Alabama, which proved to be an attractive destination.
Buchner, as a tagteam changeup QB partner to starter Jack Coan, played in 10 games as a freshman with a 60% completion rate (21-of-35), 298 passing yards, three passing touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed 46 times for 336 yards and three touchdowns.
Buchner beat out Pyne in a quarterback competition last offseason, but he struggled in his first two starts — losses to Ohio State and Marshall. When he went down with a high-grade sprain of his AC joint in his left, non-throwing shoulder, Buchner had yet to throw a touchdown pass in the first two games.
Buchner's shoulder injury required surgery, but he healed in time to start in the Gator Bowl after Pyne already exited for the portal. Buchner provided highlights and lowlights in the 45-38 Irish victory over South Carolina. He finished 18-of-33 passing (54.5%) for 273 yards and three touchdowns with three interceptions. Two of those interceptions were returned by the Gamecocks for touchdowns. Buchner also rushed for 61 yards and two touchdowns on 12 carries.
Buchner will enter his first season at Alabama with a career passing line of 67-of-118 (56.8%) for 949 yards and six touchdowns with eight interceptions. He totaled 459 yards and seven touchdowns on 82 rushing attempts in 13 games.
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