Which Notre Dame football freshman has meant the most to the Irish in 2021?
Notre Dame hasn't been overly reliant on freshmen this season, but a good amount of them have contributed in major ways en route to the Fighting Irish's 9-1 start to the season.
If we asked the question posed in the headline in two weeks after the regular season has been completed, running back Logan Diggs could have very well factored into the discussion at the rate he's been running in the last month.
For now, though, BlueandGold.com’s Tyler Horka and Todd Burlage settled on a debate between offensive tackle Joe Alt and quarterback Tyler Buchner. Read below to see which writer picked which player.
Tyler Horka: Joe Alt Was The Missing Piece After Blake Fisher Injury
I’ll start by saying this: I acknowledge Tyler Buchner’s importance to this Notre Dame offense. Without him, maybe Notre Dame doesn’t beat Toledo. Sitting at 8-1 through three games, that’s a tough hypothetical to wrap one’s mind around. But it was nearly reality. Buchner ignited the offense that day and has provided a spark in multiple games thereafter.
But Jack Coan is still the starting quarterback on this team. And he’s being protected by a starting left tackle that deserves a large chunk of praise for saving the Irish’s season. True freshman Joe Alt. Let’s face it — the Notre Dame offensive line was a complete mess in the first five games of the season. That made Coan’s production suffer. Junior running back Kyren Williams wasn’t the same threat he was during his stellar sophomore season.
But when Alt moved to left tackle full time against Virginia Tech Oct. 9, everything seemed to click. Sometimes all it takes is one part shuffling to the right spot for the light bulb to go off. Junior Andrew Kristofic has been great at left guard, too, but Alt appears to be every bit of a shutdown left tackle.
Notre Dame has been a totally different team since Alt began starting at that position. The running game has been leaps and bounds better, Coan has improved and has taken far fewer sacks. All anybody wanted to talk about early on was how bad the Notre Dame offensive line was. Now, it’s quite good. And Alt is heavily responsible for that turnaround.
Todd Burlage: Tyler Buchner Has Been Critical To Team’s Success
With 203 rushing yards and 243 passing yards in seven appearances, statistics obviously don’t provide much context when measuring the value of Notre Dame freshman quarterback Tyler Buchner.
But anyone who has watched this young man play this season can’t help but notice what a special and important player he is for the Irish.
The Notre Dame offensive coaches describe Buchner as a change-of-pace quarterback, a dual-threat complement to graduate student starter Jack Coan, when in actuality Buchner might be better described as a season-saver.
Without Buchner’s valuable work as a backup against Toledo Sept. 11 and Virginia Tech Oct. 9 when Coan was struggling, Notre Dame wouldn’t have beaten either of those two teams. Buchner led critical touchdown drives in both games, while at the same time, Coan was able to reset himself.
Since Virginia Tech, Buchner has become more than just the guy to save the day when Coan is struggling. Instead, he’s grown into a valuable change-of-pace quarterback with an increased and clearer role that defenses have to account for.
There’s an old saying in college football, “if you have two quarterbacks, you have none.” That adage doesn’t apply at Notre Dame with the importance and improvement Buchner has and will continue to show this season.
Buchner has not only been the most valuable freshmen on the team, he’s also becoming one of the most valuable Irish players, regardless of class.
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