Buchner Accustomed To Heat Of QB1 Since First Visit To Campus

By John Brice
Special Contributor

Lorenzo Styles was, perhaps, puking on the turf.

Tyler Buchner couldn’t recall having ever quite needing to be on his game as a quarterback in such heat.

Thoughts about a future as Notre Dame’s quarterback?

Not with temperatures threatening to melt the synthetic turf inside Notre Dame Stadium, where several years ago a 15-year-old Buchner nonetheless had just wowed his future position coach and future offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees, and the man who, on Saturday with Irish head coach Marcus Freeman, publicly declared Buchner as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback marching into the 2022 season.

“You know, honestly, it was probably 120 degrees out there,” Buchner said Saturday in his inaugural press conference as Irish QB1 of that course-setting showcase. “I think (current Irish wideout) Lorenzo Styles was out there catching for me; he might have been throwing up.

“So I was just trying to get through the day. I think I might have been 15 years old, trying to get back to the hotel and get some ice. I didn’t really think about it at the time, but now that I’m here, I’m incredibly blessed to be in this position. I’m thankful to be in this spot.”

Rees, too, remembers the unusually sweltering temps from that June quarterbacks and skill players camp under the previous regime and that even under such a sky, Buchner still possessed the tangible and intangible characteristics to shine.

“Talent, would be the one thing overall,” Rees said. “We were in the stadium, it was hot as hell, he ran 4.68 on his first 40, and then we got to drills and he could throw with every kid there and better. I think he was going into sophomore year, and played a little bit and got hurt.

“We knew right away the talent was there.”

Rees’ extra time summers ago with Buchner, in part, now is part of the quarterback’s present foundation.

“I remember spending that day, I think it was Ty, his dad (Todd, a former football player at Colgate) and my dad (Notre Dame personnel and scouting guru Bill Rees),” Rees said. “Ty was born (in Evanston) near where my father grew up (Winnetka), there was an instant connection there. The more time I got to spend around him, you said, ‘OK, this is the type of personality that can be the quarterback at Notre Dame.’

“So it started with talent, that was the evaluation, and then as we dug into the character, that was something that we knew could lead this program.”

Though most of his formative years were spent growing up in California, Buchner recalls his first Irish impression stemming from childhood.

“My whole street was a bunch of Notre Dame fans; there’s pictures of me wearing Notre Dame stuff as a kid,” said Buchner, who last season appeared in 10 games, accounted for six touchdowns and was a critical component in wins against North Carolina, USC and Virginia Tech.

Fully ensembled in Notre Dame stuff during a recent evening practice, Buchner began cementing his opening command of the Irish offense though Drew Pyne – the “Best version of Drew Pyne we’ve had at Notre Dame,” Rees noted – never yielded in the competition.

Still, in a practice held midweek at nearby St. Joseph High School, Buchner rallied an offense stymied through the session’s opening half with a dazzling second-half flourish.

“I think it was an opportunity to give both guys the ability to play to their strengths,” Rees said. “… This is the vision of what we can see moving forward. It has been a balancing act. We have kind of two systems that we’re operating. My job was to give both guys opportunities in their strengths, we wanted to give them opportunities to go out there and operate off their skill-sets and both of them did that.

“There just seemed to be an ownership and a confidence that Tyler was out there playing with that night, and that started to lead into some good practices, good practices and then we felt the confidence to make the decision.”

Freeman doesn’t have the same depth of knowledge with Buchner, his time in South Bend still short of two years and only the past eight months as head coach.

The Irish’s effervescent leader, nonetheless, continues to log weekly meetings with his quarterbacks; sits in on positional meetings with Rees and the entire room; knows exactly what he wants in a quarterback – and sees it in Buchner.

“When I meet with the quarterbacks and I met with Coach Rees, and this wasn’t recent, this was when I first became the head coach, there are three things I, as the head coach, really look for,” Freeman said. “Are they making the correct decisions? Number one, are they making the correct decisions?

“Number two, you’ve got to take care of the football. We can’t turn the ball over. We’ve got to take care of the football. And then three, you’ve got to make plays. Who’s making plays? There’s a huge criteria I’m sure that Coach Rees has in terms of how he evaluates those guys, but those are the three things that I really, really look for. We’ve been in constant dialogue about who was going to be the starter.”

In fact, it’s the conversation Notre Dame football’s been having about Buchner now for the past five years.