Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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16 SEPT. 24, 2022 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA D rew Pyne didn't ever envision this would be the way it went. Well, maybe he did. But it's definitely not what he preferred. The Notre Dame junior wanted to win the Fighting Irish starting quar- terback job outright. But above all else, he always wanted a real shot to help the Fighting Irish win on Saturdays. After more than two years of waiting, he's finally got the uninhibited chance to do so. The opportunity came by way of soph- omore Tyler Buchner's Grade 5 shoulder sprain, an injury that required surgery three days after it was suffered. Now Notre Dame's season requires a piece- it-back-together procedure of its own. An 0-2 start left the Irish reeling. Graduate student linebacker Bo Bauer said it made him "sick." Head coach Marcus Freeman stood on the sideline in the final minutes of the 26-21 loss to Marshall with a look of bewilderment not displayed on his GQ-caliber face in the nine months he's been Notre Dame's head coach. Two-time team captain and graduate student Jarrett Patter- son slammed his helmet into the Notre Dame Stadium turf in the immediate aftermath of the stunning loss to the unranked Thundering Herd. He tried to go up the famed north end zone tunnel before the traditional post- game singing of the Irish alma mater. That's an unwritten no-no. And a big one at that. Notre Dame needs an effervescent in- jection. It needs Pyne. "I told him, 'You're the perfect guy to help us through this right now,'" of- fensive coordinator Tommy Rees said. Why? Because Notre Dame not suc- ceeding is what bothers Pyne the most. "His care-factor is through the roof," Rees said. "He's going to walk in the building and do everything in his power Saturday. That's just who the kid is, and that's why he's here." 'THE GOLDEN STANDARD' Pyne has always been at Notre Dame to win. That's not new. He just hasn't ever had the chance to be the primary player responsible for the winning. Is it because he's 5-11½ with a bump on his head and 198 pounds soaking wet? Partly. His measurables aren't picture perfect. But the common cliché about not being able to measure some- one's heart? That's Pyne in a nutshell. "Every single time I've played here and have been playing football my whole life, I've played it with a lot of passion," Pyne said. "I've played it with 100 percent ef- fort. I've played it with love for the game and love for my teammates, with a lot of confidence and a lot of energy." There's a particular part of what he said that might describe him the most. It wasn't the part about passion or ef- fort or energy. It was the part about teammates. When Buchner was named the starter over him through one week of fall camp, Pyne was upset. He readily admitted that. He felt he had invested more into this season than he ever had and was playing the best football of his life. He was still beat out by someone the coaching staff viewed as the better player, and that stung. But only for a few days — internally. Outwardly, he was professional and supportive. Freeman, Rees and Buchner spoke moments after the unveiling of Buch- ner as QB1. All three mentioned Pyne in the first minute of their respective press conferences. This is the era of the trans- fer portal. There are players around the country who would have defected im- mediately. They wouldn't have given coaches and the competition's winner anything amiable to say at all. That's not Pyne. Never was, never will be. "You'd be watching film last year and Buchner or Jack Coan would make a play downfield. Usually we're all out of the camera if we're not in the game," graduate student offensive lineman Josh Lugg said. "The first person you see on the screen running down the field [with his arms in the air] is Drew Pyne, going nuts because the best man in his room just made an unbelievable play. He's celebrating that. "That is infectious for our team. That's the culture we need. To have a guy like Drew Pyne in our locker room, he is PERFECT PYNE Notre Dame believes quarterback Drew Pyne is the right guy to get the Irish headed in a positive direction