Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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26 AUGUST 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA N otre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman is full of idioms. The Gold Standard, for instance, is his overarching mantra. Within that, there are three pillars: chal- lenge everything, unit strength and competitive spirit. He's not short on words to live by. New Irish offensive coordina- tor Mike Denbrock has intro- duced a catchphrase of his own — "Gold and Gritty." "Obviously, we get to wear that beautiful gold helmet every Sat- urday and play in that beautiful stadium. That's the first piece of it," Denbrock told Blue & Gold Illustrated in early June. "The gritty part of it — grit, to me, is an incredibly important word not only in your life but in the game of foot- ball. We break grit down into grateful, resilient, intense and together." Expressions dou- bling as acronyms. What else would you expect at a place like Notre Dame? Grateful: Not tak- ing wearing the gold helmet and playing at Notre Dame Stadium for granted. Resilient: Not wavering in the face of adversity; challenging everything. Intense: Not yielding an ounce of eagerness to the guy across from you; there's your competitive spirit. Together: Pulling in the same direc- tion as your teammates — unit strength. Grit: A desirable gridiron quality. Peo- ple might think of it as more of a defensive characteristic, but Denbrock is preaching it to the Irish's offensive players. Grit means going the extra yard for a first down to keep a drive alive. It means beating your defender in a physical one- on-one situation and coming away with the football against all odds. Holding onto your block long enough for the quarter- back to make a play. Throwing a stiff- arm so vicious your defensive teammates watching on the sideline get riled up. Hapless offensive outings can be as demoralizing for a team as its defense getting steamrolled over and over again, drive after drive. Notre Dame's 2023 season came down to not being able to move the ball against Ohio State in crunch time and against Louisville and Clemson on the road. A little extra grit might have gone a long way. There's a place for (gr)it on offense. Denbrock has been in the game long enough to know that. "We talk about that as a backbone and a way to bring everybody into the same mindset when we put our film on and watch us play," Denbrock said. "You see someone that plays with grit and has that trait about them. "It's hard to not see it. You know what it looks like. I may not be able to de- scribe it to you very well, but you know when you see it. And that's what we want to be known for." BUCHNER IS BACK Tyler Buchner leaving Ala- bama after one season as one of the Crimson Tide's quarterbacks felt like a farewell to football for a player once viewed as a long- term starter for the Fighting Irish. He only started three games for Notre Dame, though, and just one for Alabama before returning to South Bend to play for Kevin Cor- rigan's men's lacrosse team. Buchner missing 10 games in 2022 with a shoulder injury and the arrival of Sam Hartman from the transfer portal the following winter led to his defection from the Notre Dame program. One not-so-great start at Alabama — he completed 5 of 14 passes for 34 yards and ran twice for 11 yards in a lackluster 17-3 win for the Tide over South Florida — and Tommy Rees getting booted from the program at the end of the year be- cause of the head c o a c h i n g c h a n ge made Buchner go back to Notre Dame to play lacrosse. And —little did most know — foot- ball, too. "Notre Dame has always been a place of faith and redemption, but I never imagined the extent of its generosity until the day Coach Freeman allowed me to rejoin the football team as a walk- on," Buchner said in a statement May 31. "Being able to play the game I have loved since I can remember and playing for Notre Dame has been my dream." Freeman clarified with reporters on the same day that Buchner is technically a wide receiver. He's not in the Irish's plans at quarterback like he was two years ago when Freeman named him the starter for the new coach's first season at the helm. In a trio of starts at Ohio State, at home against Marshall and in the Gator Bowl against South Carolina, Buchner com- pleted 46 of 83 throws for 651 yards with 3 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. He ran 36 times for 123 yards and 4 scores. Whether Buchner will appear in a game again remains to be seen. One GOLD AND GRITTY Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock juxtaposes two qualities in his coaching Denbrock embraces all things Fighting Irish, as illustrated by his "gold and gritty" mantra. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER