SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The fact that Tyler Buchner submitted an imperfect answer to a question from the media Saturday so matter-of-factly that it almost seemed believable is actually the kind of progress Tommy Rees is looking for in his aspiring starting quarterback.
Buchner, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound sophomore competing with junior Drew Pyne this spring for the top spot on Notre Dame’s QB depth chart, was asked about the benefit of weekly meetings he and the other three quarterbacks have been having with first-year head coach Marcus Freeman — and what he’s learned from them.
Buchner started with the more pragmatic reasons, such as watching film from a different (defensive) perspective, Freeman’s expertise. And he went on to suggest that Freeman learning more about the offense in the QB room and the QBs learning more about Freeman made it easier for Freeman to yell at that position group, if warranted.
“If he yells at us, he knows what he’s yelling at us for,” Buchner said Saturday after practice No. 2 of 15 this spring. “You can’t yell at us if you don’t know us. You know what I’m saying?
“That way, if he supports us and builds a relationship, when he coaches us, it’s not just, ‘Who is this guy coaching us?’ We have a relationship with him.”
Buchner then launched into some of the more personal aspects of Freeman that he’s picked up on in the past three months.
“He’s a really good guy. He’s cool. He's a players coach,” Buchner said of ND’s former defensive coordinator, in 2021. “He's everything you’d want in a head coach. I had no idea what he was like. I didn’t spend any time in the defensive meetings.
“So just getting to know him, he’s a family man. All his kids are around. He’s got a dog — those things. He’s very relatable.”
“Do you know the name of the dog?” came the follow-up question.
“Marcus,” Buchner said confidently.
Laughter ensued.
“The name of the dog is Marcus?”
“Pretty sure,” Buchner said.
More laughter.
“Well, I don’t know,” he said. “Don’t quote me on that.”
The family calls the dog, "Deuce." But technically its name actually is "Marcus."
And if Buchner takes that kind of conviction into the huddle, it doesn’t matter what the dog's name is.
“For Tyler, the two things we've talked about is one — Drew has presence,” said Rees, Notre Dame’s second-year offensive coordinator and sixth year QBs coach.
“(Pyne) has a voice. Guys gravitate to his voice. He's out in front. He has those abilities. The message to Tyler was, 'Hey, you're not a freshman anymore. You have to take the next step from a presence standpoint.
“‘If you're going to go win the job to be the starting quarterback at Notre Dame, the team has to look at you that way. The only way you get them to look at you that way is by handling yourself that way.’”
The second point of emphasis from Rees to Buchner, the favorite to win the job, was more accuracy in his passes. As ND’s No. 2 QB behind departed starter Jack Coan, Buchner fashioned a 142.7 pass-efficiency ranking in 2021, completing 21 of 35 passes for 298 yards and three TDs and three interceptions.
His small-sample size efficiency number, had Buchner had enough pass attempts to qualify for the national rankings, would have placed him 56th nationally, just ahead of Michigan starting QB Cade McNamara.
More impressive was Buchner’s running, which is why he was able to earn a niche role in the Irish offense as a freshman in 2021. He finished the season as ND’s second-leading rusher with 336 yards on 46 carries for a 7.3 yards-per-carry average. Only running back Kyren Williams on the Irish roster had more rushing TDs than Buchner’s three.
The down side is it created the perception that Buchner is a run-first quarterback, something his high school film from his junior year — his only year playing high school football — would contradict.
In 2019, a year after missing his sophomore season at The Bishop’s School in San Diego with a torn ACL, Buchner threw for 4,474 yards and 53 TDs with five interceptions to go along with 1,610 more yards on the ground with 28 more TDs on 128 carries.
Combined, it was the third-highest single-season total offensive figure in U.S. high school history.
“I don’t think last year was a complete representation of who I am as a player,” Buchner said. “I really wanted to help the team win. And last year what I needed to do to help the team win was to be a changeup player, package quarterback.
“And that just so happened to be that I ran the ball more than I threw that ball. And that’s just what it was. I don’t think last year was who I am as a complete player. And you know I’m excited to showcase that in the coming weeks.”
Buchner actually hoped to show that off in the fall of 2020 as well when he transferred to Helix High School in La Mesa, Calif., to take a big step up in the competition he’d played against. But California punted its 2020 high school season to spring because of COVID-19, and by then Buchner was a freshman at ND as a mid-year enrollee.
That he still was able to get on the field as a freshman in the fall in a meaningful role surprised just about everyone but Buchner himself.
“Tyler has an extremely high ceiling,” Rees said. “He has an innate ability to play the position. He has talent in both the run and pass. When you boil it down, he played one year (in high school). No offense to The Bishop’s School, but it’s not exactly the (Greater Catholic League) in Cincinnati.
“For him to come in and take ownership of his role and have the ability to go out and the first time he played, he made probably the play that won us the game (against Toledo) with the rail route to Chris Tyree going to his left.
“You see just his natural talent take over. I don’t know if it’s a ‘wow’ deal. I guess if you were really to reflect on it, there was a big jump there. He’s an intelligent kid. He’s a talented kid, He prepares the right way to get ready to go. We have to keep building off that for him.”
Rees said the overriding criterion to determine who will take the first snaps Sept. 3 at Ohio State in the season opener is who makes the best decisions.
“When it comes to quarterback play, everything we’re going to talk about is: Are we making the right decision? Are we giving our guys a chance to be successful?” Rees said. “Whoever does that consistently will be the quarterback.”
Buchner flew home to San Diego with his girlfriend for spring break. But he left her home to hang with his sister for three of those days to commute to the 3DQB training center in Huntington Beach, two hours away, and work on his decision-making and the rest of his QB to-do list.
He did the same in the couple of weeks between the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl loss to Oklahoma State and the start of winter workouts in mid-January. In winter workouts, he was paired with Pyne as co-SWAT team leaders.
In a competition for points that foster team accountability in the weight room and the class room, the Buchner/Pyne team came in first.
“He’s my best friend,” Buchner said of Pyne. “It’s that simple.”
Actually, life at Notre Dame has gotten simpler and less angst-producing this offseason, even if Buchner doesn’t have ALL the answers yet.
“I think as more reps come, hopefully I can work out some kinks and things I made mistakes from last year and get those fixed,” Buchner said. “At the end of the day, it's just playing ball. The more I learn about the offense, the more that I learn about other defenses, the better I’ll be.”
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