Blue and Gold Illustrated

Summer 2025

Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football

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16 SUMMER 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA T ake yourself back to 2022. Imag- ine the Notre Dame quarterback room. There's Tyler Buchner. Drew Pyne. And … Steve Angeli. Buchner started three games that season. Pyne, 10. Angeli, zero. But by the end of that season, which ended with Buchner win- ning Gator Bowl MVP honors in a Fight- ing Irish victory over South Carolina, it might've felt to some Angeli had an im- measurable upside advantage over both of the elder statesmen. Pyne had already left Notre Dame via the transfer portal by the time that 2022 Gator Bowl kicked off. He ended up at Arizona State. Then Missouri. Er, then Notre Dame, again, but only to finish his degree. Then Missouri. Then Ari- zona State. Then Bowling Green. Any quarterback who goes on that much of a roller-coaster ride in his college career might not be cut out for QB1 status at a major program. Hence, he's finishing out in the MAC. Just four months after Buchner won the Gator Bowl most-valuable-player hardware in spite of throwing 3 inter- ceptions, two of which were returned for defensive touchdowns, he him- self was in the transfer portal. He fell upward and enrolled at Alabama, but his quarterbacking career there lasted about as long as it took for Pyne to come back and graduate from Notre Dame. He started one game and laid down a stat line of 5-of-14 passing for 34 yards while Alabama beat South Florida, 17-3. By the end of the year, Buchner had de- termined he'd return to Notre Dame to play lacrosse and walk onto the football team as a wide receiver. That's what he did. His QB days done — even sooner than those of Pyne. But as it turns out, Angeli, who entered the transfer portal in the days following the conclusion of Notre Dame's Blue- Gold Game, will end up starting 12 fewer games — an entire regular season's worth — at Notre Dame than Buchner and Pyne combined. Thirteen to one. For all Angeli poured into Notre Dame for three years, that doesn't seem right. But such is col- lege football in 2025. Angeli backed up Sam Hartman in 2023. Then he backed up Riley Leonard in 2024. Heck, he even backed up Pyne QUARTERBACK TURNOVER The Irish have brought in two and lost three signal-callers to the portal over the last three seasons Steve Angeli, who entered the transfer portal in April, completed 58 of 80 passes (72.5 percent) for 772 yards with 10 touchdowns and just 1 interception in 21 games at Notre Dame. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER

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