Eight days into Notre Dame's preseason camp, the Irish named their starting quarterback.
Following Saturday's practice, Tyler Buchner was named the team's starting quarterback in a tweet from the program. Buchner beat out Drew Pyne to earn the nod.
"Extremely difficult decision," head coach Marcus Freeman said Saturday after making the choice with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees. "One that me and coach Rees spent an enormous amount of time talking about.
"It's not really a seven-practice decision. This is something that we kind of looked at last year, we looked at spring, we looked at the summer and the start of fall camp — an entire body of work.
"We just felt like it was time. It was time to give the offense clarity on who's going to be the starting quarterback."
The news comes three weeks before Notre Dame kicks off the 2022 season at Ohio State. Buchner will be the first quarterback to start a regular season game under Freeman. And Buchner has history on his side.
The last eight Notre Dame quarterbacks have won their first start.
Buchner played in 10 games for the Irish last season and scored six touchdowns (three passing, three rushing). He completed 21-of-35 passes (60.0%) and had 46 rushes, averaging 7.3 yards per carry and 33.6 rushing yards per game. He threw three interceptions.
When Buchner, a sophomore, walks through the tunnel at Ohio Stadium on Sept. 3, it will be his first start in about three years.
Coming out of California, Buchner's senior season was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Buchner skipped a potential high school spring season to enroll early at Notre Dame in spring 2021.
As a high school junior, Buchner showcased five-star potential. He finished with over 6,000 yards and 79 touchdowns in 13 games. In the passing game, he completed 267 of his 402 passes (66.4%) for 4,474 yards and 53 touchdowns while only throwing six interceptions. On the ground, Buchner rushed 128 times for 1,610 yards (12.6 yards per carry) and 28 touchdowns.
One game into his high school sophomore season, Buchner suffered a torn ACL. As a high school freshman, he appeared in nine games and had six passing touchdowns and four rushing scores.
In week one at Ohio State, Buchner will go toe-to-toe with former Rancho Cucamonga (Calif.) High quarterback and Heisman favorite CJ Stroud. Notre Dame is currently a 14.5-point underdog, according to the Action Network.
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