Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 FEBRUARY 2023 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED G oing all the way back to Notre Dame's spring football prac- tice and the Blue-Gold Game, the top storyline was how junior quarterback Drew Pyne had the audition stage all to himself to be- gin building his case to become the 2022 opening-day starter. Sophomore signal-caller Ty- ler Buchner injured his ankle on a stairway slip and had to miss the spring game. In some respects, that day last April provided Pyne a per- fect and unimpeded chance to build and carry some momentum into the summer months for his starter quest. It didn't happen. Pyne played poorly during his spring game au- dition, and Buchner ended up the opening-day starter. Buchner made two starts in 2022 before a shoulder injury sidelined him for the last 10 games of the reg- ular season. Pyne took over for Bu- chner and won eight of his 10 starts. But nevertheless, Pyne still entered the transfer portal last month and ultimately landed at Arizona State. All of which served as a nice backdrop for the Gator Bowl Dec. 30, and a second Notre Dame single-game quarterback audition in nine months. And while Bu- chner's audition provided a mixed bag of mainly good but some bad, the Irish signal-caller needs to still feel encour- aged about his performance heading into the offseason. The good: Buchner completed 18 of 33 passes for 274 yards with 3 touchdowns. Buchner also led a game-winning 12- play, 80-yard touchdown drive late in the fourth quarter to secure the Irish win, and he added 61 rushing yards with 2 scores. The bad: Buchner threw 3 intercep- tions, two of which were returned for touchdowns that kept South Carolina in the game. "The interceptions were tough," Bu- chner admitted afterward. "That goes along with rust and it goes along with making mistakes." Head coach Marcus Freeman has made it no secret that he expects to bring in a transfer quarterback to com- pete with Buchner for the 2023 starting duties. But at least for the moment af- ter his performance in the Gator Bowl, Buchner should enter any quarterback competition with a leg up on the start- ing job. In addition to recognizing Buchner's quick recovery from his shoulder injury and his solid overall play in the bowl game, Freeman also celebrated Buch- ner's commitment to the team and his craft. During his recovery from right shoul- der surgery, Buchner stayed engaged and became a bit of a player coach, even spending time in the press box on game days to get an aerial view and a broader look. "Just seeing the game from a different perspective and listening to what the coaches are talking about during the game," Buchner said. "Sort of having a different mindset toward the game certainly helped me become a smarter player." Buchner was far from perfect in the Gator Bowl. But after almost four months off, he was plenty solid. RECRUITING MATTERS Freeman put a holiday bow on his first full Notre Dame recruiting cycle during the early signing pe- riod Dec. 21-23, by celebrating the 24 players from 14 different states in his 2023 class who signed on the bottom line. But, as recruiting goes, it's the bad news that drives the news cy- cle. And when Notre Dame missed out on five-star safety Peyton Bowen — a longtime verbal com- mit who made an 11th-hour flip to Oklahoma (after a short-lived ver- bal to Oregon) — most of the atten- tion immediately turned to a player who will likely never suit up here. Bowen, out of Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, was rated as the top recruit in this Fighting Irish class. And his late decommitment helped cause Notre Dame's 2023 recruiting class ranking to drop from No. 5 to No. 8 by the time the early signing day smoke cleared. "You can't worry about the ones you didn't get," Freeman said during his press conference. "So you have to be more concerned about the ones that you're bringing in." Speculation swirled rampantly that Bowen and some other 2023 Fighting Irish recruiting targets spurred Notre Dame to chase massive NIL income op- portunities at their future schools. That said, Freeman is not willing to change his outlook on NIL doings. "If [NIL money] is the only reason they want to come to Notre Dame, this isn't going to be the right fit for them," Freeman said. "… At the end of the day, you have to continue to sell what you believe attracts young people here, and they have to make the decision to come to Notre Dame for the right reasons." ✦ While Buchner was far from perfect in the Gator Bowl, he ulti- mately rallied the Irish to victory and gave himself a leg up for the quarterback competition that may occur this spring. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Tyler Buchner Makes Good On His Bowl Audition UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com