To read part I, click here
Near the end of his high school junior year, Tyler Buchner solicited the services of a new private quarterback coach. Taylor Kelly is a former Arizona State quarterback and a current motion performance expert with 3DQB, an organization that has trained a number of NFL quarterbacks such as future Hall-of-Famers in Tom Brady, Drew Brees and Eli Manning. He is also the same private coach former Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush threw with prior to the 2018 season.
Kelly and Buchner went to work on the young quarterback’s short to intermediate accuracy, which required a slight change to his throwing motion, as well as an attempt to gain more velocity through the use of his lower half.
Shortly after, the 2020 Elite 11 Finals were announced on June 19. The multi-day competition among the nation’s best prep quarterbacks was to begin 10 days later.
Throughout the three-day event, Buchner struggled. He often overthrew his intended target, or his passes zipped behind a slanting receiver.
Dissecting A Teenage Quarterback
The public feedback was harsh, and his stock according to the national recruiting rankings dropped over the following months.
“Someone messed with the Notre Dame commit’s mechanics as a sidearm, baseball sling is occurring often now,” Rivals’ national recruiting director Mike Farrell wrote. “This leads to all sorts of issues from accuracy to the ball hanging at times. This was an odd performance.”
Reckoning with such an assessment can be difficult. As with any mechanical adjustment, it takes months of concentration and repetition for consistency to ensue. Buchner's objective was to get ready for the fall after a commitment to transfer to Helix Charter High School for his senior season. Some were uncertain the Elite 11 would even take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the same time, this was one of the few opportunities talent evaluators had to see Buchner in several months, which may have increased the significance of the three-day event.
“If the only opportunity to get to see a kid is throwing in person and you don't get to see game film, then people overvalue those interactions,” said Will Hewlett, a private quarterback coach who has worked with Buchner at various QB Collective events (Hewlett is also Ian Book's private coach).
Given more time, it appears those mechanical concerns have waned. Other quarterback coaches who have worked with Buchner since haven’t encountered a pattern of erratic throws.
Hewlett saw Buchner over a three-day period at a QB Collective event in Indianapolis near the end of July. Were there needed tweaks? Of course, he was 17. But based on the young signal-caller’s performance in Naptown, Hewlett would never have assumed Buchner struggled so much just a month prior at the Elite 11.
Danny Hernandez shares a similar perspective. He worked with Buchner early in the quarterback’s high school career, prior to Kelly, and trained other top prep prospects in Clemson’s D.J. Uiagalelei and Alabama’s Bryce Young. Hernandez also saw Buchner in Indianapolis and then again in the fall at a much smaller QB Collective event in Oceanside, Calif.
“I honestly thought he looked even better at the Oceanside event than he did in Indianapolis,” Hernandez said.
In other areas of life, Buchner has also shown a propensity for quick mechanical adjustments. During the fall, he picked up golf, and after just a few months of hitting the links and tinkering with his swing, he's already a 7-handicap.
But perhaps, the repugnant feedback Buchner received post-Elite 11 prepared him for the, at times, irrational critiques he’ll receive via social media in South Bend.
In his three years as a starter, quarterback Book was ridiculed on Twitter to the point he deleted the social platform’s app from his phone. Buchner, to his credit, is a infrequent social media user and it appears he's ready to handle whatever public commentary is thrown his way.
“It's a massive advantage to be a mature 18-year-old,” said former NFL signal-caller and QB Collective coach Sage Rosenfels, who considers Buchner one of the most sophisticated quarterbacks in the 2021 recruiting class. “Believe me. I follow a lot of these top quarterback recruits on Instagram, kids that are also going to top programs. What I consider maturity level is all over the map.”
Onward To Our Lady
Starting with his ACL injury, Buchner worked with Derek Samuel, a physical therapist in the San Diego area. Samuel rehabs and trains both prep and professional athletes, including several current and former NFL players like Darren Sproles, Carson Palmer and Manti Te’o.
When working with Buchner, Samuel often wants to treat him the same way he does his professional clientele. It helps that Buchner’s once injured left knee is as strong as ever.
“On a daily basis, I have to remind myself I’m talking to an 18-year-old who hasn’t gone to college yet,” Samuel said. “That’s a very tricky position to have Tyler in because he’s so mature mentally, the kid is so smart. He’s got such a high IQ.
“Then you see what he can do physically, you simply have to remind yourself this is someone who’s never even been in a dorm room before.”
That is, until early February when Buchner’s parents dropped him off at Notre Dame as a mid-year enrollee. That same weekend, a winter storm covered South Bend in a foot of snow.
Now, his development will resume within the confines of the Irish Athletics Center and under the guidance of director of football performance Matt Balis.
To start as a freshman, he’ll have to beat out Wisconsin graduate transfer Jack Coan, plus returnees Brendon Clark and Drew Pyne. But the quarterback awarded the job will be the one who can consistently put the offense in the best position to score.
“If that’s Tyler, that’s Tyler,” Rees said. “We are in an open competition. We have the ability to evaluate all of our guys and allow them to showcase their strengths and give them an opportunity to lead this offense, and we are never shy about adding competition to this group.
“It’s going to be an extremely competitive year and I do believe that brings out the best in guys. I can’t tell you how excited I am just to get going and start this new chapter.”
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