After trips to Athens, Tuscaloosa and several other college football camps along the way, Tyler Buchner aches for his Southern California home. It’s the summer of 2018 and the rising sophomore carries a tired arm and dozens of football and lacrosse scholarships to evaluate. Two of those offers come from Alabama's Nick Saban and Georgia's Kirby Smart.
It’s his preference to skip the last leg of the trip to South Bend.
But his father, Todd, a former Colgate running back and a man well-versed in college football lore, persisted. Just one last stop: the Elite Skills Camp in Notre Dame Stadium. Then home.
Throughout the drive to campus, Buchner’s disinterested state continues until he is peering through a tunnel of maple trees on Notre Dame Avenue. The canopy of leaves directs his eyes to the statue of Mary perched atop the university’s Main Building, otherwise known as the Golden Dome.
As a child, he attended a handful of Notre Dame home games with his dad: a few losses to USC and a 41‑21 victory over Tennessee. But those memories are a decade old. Now back on campus as a recruit, for the first time, he understands the allure. The seminal quote from Lou Holtz echoes true: “Those who know Notre Dame, no explanation’s necessary. Those who don’t, no explanation will suffice.”
A few days later, Buchner tweets that the University of Notre Dame has offered. He attends The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, Calif., ranked among the top 20 private schools in the nation. Academics, as well as football, will be at the forefront of his decision.
Thus, from that point on, the Irish will play a central role in his recruitment as the Notre Dame coaching staff bonds with the national quarterback prospect. There are significant moments over the next nine months before he commits, but the one that sticks out follows his season-ending injury.
Early Setback
In the 2018 season opener against Grossmont High School, Bishop’s had possession at their own 12-yard line. It was fourth-and-12. Buchner, in his first game as the full-time starter at quarterback, also served as the team’s punter.
After receiving the snap, he noticed every member of Grossmont’s punt return unit retreating — and then took off up the left sideline. He easily out-sprinted the first 10 tacklers and made a cut 40 yards up the field, causing the return man to fall to the side. Untouched, Buchner pulled up lame and grabbed his left knee.
His ACL was torn.
Calls from prospective college coaches dialed in over the following days, but none meant more than his conversations with Notre Dame director of scouting Bill Rees and the then-quarterbacks coach Tommy Rees. Others indicated they still wanted him, but with the father-son duo, Buchner felt he was still their guy; their quarterback of the future.
With his athletic world temporarily stripped away and uncertainty ahead, the faith Notre Dame bestowed upon Buchner carried significant weight.
To support his teammates, Buchner still attended practice and moved up to the coaches box during games to watch from an aerial vantage point.
With a coaching headset on, he evaluated the coverage an opponent was in and relayed play call suggestions down to Bishop’s offensive coordinator Danny Mitchell on the sidelines. Sometimes, Buchner identified a weakness downfield and recommended a wide receiver run the post. Later, the defense would play soft coverage and Buchner suggested hitch routes.
“It was like having another experienced coach in my ear,” Mitchell said, “only he's 16 years old.”
Buchner served in this role for the rest of the season.
In the long run, digesting the game through a new, more analytical perspective would serve him well once he returned to full health the following season.
“You always hear coaches say, 'If I had a chance to coach before I played, I would have been better,'” Mitchell said. “Well, Tyler technically did.”
‘Video Game Numbers’
Buchner announced his verbal commitment to Notre Dame on March 8, 2019. He had yet to play a high school season as the full-time starting quarterback. There was no doubting his talent, but how would it translate under Friday night lights?
Coaches and scouts alike have evaluated Buchner’s junior-season film, their jaws resting on the floor.
There are numerous throws on the run, dimes dropped over defenders’ outstretched arms and into the hands of streaking wide receivers. Then, in an instant, he’ll take off from the backfield and burst past multiple tacklers, leaving them to choke on his dust.
When Buchner wants to, he’ll simply drop back three steps and fire a pass into a tight window 20 yards down the field. He accounted for 6,084 yards of total offense and 81 touchdowns as a junior, with just five interceptions and a passer rating of 137.2.
Buchner did not face the toughest competition in California, but he consistently put up eye-popping numbers — including racking up 636 yards of total offense in the 2019 state title game versus El Camino, one of the state’s 10 largest public high schools.
“When he did dominate, when you saw the ridiculous video game numbers he was putting up,” Mitchell said, “those were against the best teams we played on our schedule.”
His electricity, creativity and the utter explosiveness jumped off the screen and transcends the quarterback position. Unlike most college quarterbacks, Buchner is also versatile enough to be a coveted four-star prospect on defense.
“If he wasn’t such an incredible quarterback, he’d be one of the best safeties in the nation,” said Shane Walton, the current Bishop’s head coach and former Notre Dame defensive back.
Further demonstrating his athletic prowess, Buchner is also considered one of the most talented lacrosse players in the country. Inside Lacrosse, an ESPN-affiliate media website covering the sport, gave Buchner a 94 rating on a scale of 100, which made him the highest graded player in the country at the time.
Even in middle school, just about every major college lacrosse program was after him. He quickly committed to Michigan in eighth grade as a placeholder, just before a 2017 NCAA rule change kicked in that prevented lacrosse prospects from being recruited until Sept. 1 of their high school junior year.
But the acclaim he garnered from carrying a lacrosse stick also influenced his rise as a football prospect.
In eighth grade, Buchner was invited to a football camp at UCLA. Then-head football coach Jim Mora had discovered the young quarterback thanks to his son, who also played lacrosse in Southern California. Buchner performed well enough at the camp to merit his first football scholarship from the Bruins. It’s the same program where his older sister Brooke initially committed to play beach volleyball (she would later flip to California and was named to Volleyball Magazine's 'Fab 30’ in the summer of 2020).
Of course, once Buchner’s reputation on the gridiron took off, his focus shifted to becoming one of the nation’s top prep quarterbacks.
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