Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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8 NOV. 20, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED UNDER THE DOME Joe Alt Was The Missing Piece After Blake Fisher Injury By Tyler Horka I'll start by saying this: I acknowledge Tyler Bu- chner'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 of- fense 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. Tyler Buchner Has Been Critical To Team's Success By Todd D. Burlage With 203 rushing yards and 243 passing yards in seven appearances, statistics obviously don't pro- vide 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 spe- cial and important player he is for the Irish. The Notre Dame offensive coaches describe Bu- chner 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 take 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. Point ✦ Counterpoint: WHO HAS BEEN NOTRE DAME'S MOST IMPORTANT FRESHMAN THIS SEASON? BUCHNER ALT Delayna Myers calls her occupation as the head cheerleading coach at Notre Dame a "dream job." But when trying to coordinate about 40 stu- dent-athletes to work multiple Irish sporting events every week — often being played simulta- neously on campus and around the country most weekends — her responsibilities can become a bit of a nightmare, especially this time of the year with the overlap between fall and winter sports. Just last week (Nov. 7-13), Myers was responsi- ble for assembling and coordinating cheer squads to handle three basketball games, one volleyball and two soccer matches, two hockey games and a road football game in Virginia. It's all just an- other week in the life of Myers as she maneuvers through a sixth season overseeing the Irish cheer program with an objective of balancing university traditions and innovative routines. Myers, 30, came to Notre Dame in 2016 after spending nine years coaching all-star squads and instructing tumbling classes at the youth level. A native of the Detroit Metro area, Myers cheered at Bowling Green State University and also be- came a member of the Detroit Tigers Energy Squad for the MLB franchise. Myers met her husband, Jeff Myers — a Notre Dame athletics staff photographer — in South Bend and remains committed to lifting her cheer program to something beyond a "club activity." Blue & Gold Illustrated caught up with Delayna Myers to discuss an important role for her squads and school, how she landed here, and the special chal- lenges of coordinating so many stu- dents, schedules and events. BGI: How did this opportunity come about? Myers: "This job opened up, I was young, I was 25, and in the back of my mind I felt like I had no busi- ness applying. But I felt like any ex- perience interviewing is valuable experience, so I gave it a shot. I applied and they thought I was the right woman for the job. "I shocked myself each step of the way, to be honest, and it has turned out to be one of my greatest experiences and I'm very grateful for it." BGI: Six years on the job, what's your journey been like? Myers: "I've definitely grown with this pro- gram, and I think the program has also grown with me. It's amazing. The brand, the tradition, the students that you're working with, it really is amazing." BGI: So many events and athletes to manage, what are your greatest challenges? Myers: "Scheduling for one. These students have such an aggressive academic load that trying to make sure that we are giving them adequate time to accomplish what they need to become successful students and people, and also be prepared to represent our athletic teams at the highest level. "At times, it feels like there are not enough hours in the day to do everything and to cover all of the sports that we cover." BGI: Any other unique challenges? Myers: "This time of the year is the most chal- lenging for us because volleyball is still playing, soccer is in its postseason, basketball is starting and the mascot [leprechaun] also attends hockey games, and then we have to be ready for any other requested Olympic sports." BGI: How would describe your mission and goals to enhance and improve your cheer squads? Myers: "To continue to try and be innovative, especially, because at Notre Dame, most of what we do is rooted in tradition. That can be some- times difficult to continue to challenge the stu- dents to evolve and add to the game-day experi- ence, while also honoring tradition." — Todd D. Burlage Five Questions With … NOTRE DAME HEAD CHEERLEADING COACH DELAYNA MYERS MYERS