SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Former Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner will return to the Irish football program as a walk-on wide receiver next season, the next step in a collegiate career that saw Buchner transfer schools, change sports and win two championships in the process.
Buchner announced his intentions in an open letter posted on the Notre Dame athletics website on Friday, and head coach Marcus Freeman confirmed the news during a roundtable discussion with reporters after meeting with Buchner this spring and conveying Buchner's desire to return to Irish football in whatever capacity the head coach would allow.
Freeman didn't want to cast a shadow over Notre Dame's quarterback staff by bringing Buchner back as the starting quarterback — Buchner's last appearance for the Irish football team was as MVP in the Gator Bowl win over South Carolina — but he had been told Buchner was willing to do whatever it took to help, so Freeman wasn't willing to turn down the chance to bring him back in some capacity.
“He just wants to give to the football program,” Freeman said. “(He) said, 'I love Notre Dame, any position.' We talked about a few positions. 'If they can just put me on the team, I'll do it.' I met with the coaching staff, I talked to the players and we came to the decision to have him join the football team.”
Buchner left Notre Dame after spring practice a year ago after the school committed to Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman. He followed former offensive coordinator Tommy Reese to Alabama, where he finished second to Jalen Milroe in a season-long quarterback battle. Buchner started in Week 3 against USF, but was benched by Nick Saban and sat out the remainder of the season.
In an open letter, Buechner detailed how that week changed his perspective on football, which ultimately led to him taking up lacrosse again this winter and joining a team that won back-to-back national championships. Buechner wrote that his decision to leave Notre Dame was influenced by losing sight of why he moved from San Diego to South Bend in the first place.
“For me as a 20-year-old, the pain of leaving the Fighting Irish was eclipsed by the allure of the transfer portal and the promise of playing a season under Coach Saban as the next step to playing in the NFL,” Buchner wrote. “But I had forgotten why I chose Notre Dame in the first place, and it took me a season to realize what I had and why I loved Notre Dame.”
Buchner wrote that he “fell into a deep emotional hole” after being benched at Alabama, but eventually volunteered to play for the scout-team offense and helped the Crimson Tide win the SEC championship and reach the College Football Playoff but lose to Michigan in the Rose Bowl. At that point, Buchner had decided to return to Notre Dame after the season, never imagining that football would again be a part of his life.
“Notre Dame has always been a place of faith and salvation, but I never imagined the magnitude of that generosity until the day Coach Freeman reinstated me to the football team as a walk-on,” Buechner wrote. “It was my dream to be able to play the sport I've loved for as long as I can remember, and to play at Notre Dame. I thought I'd risked everything, lost everything, because I never even dreamed of returning to football at Notre Dame.”
Buchner plans to continue playing lacrosse. Freeman consulted with head coach Kevin Corrigan before bringing back the former national quarterback candidate. Buchner may have an expanded lacrosse role next season, but his playing time will be limited in the fall semester by football, running the scout team, competing for depth or calling plays from the sideline.
In the end, Buchner never quit playing football at Notre Dame, even after he transferred schools and even after he returned to the sport he initially considered for college before moving on to football in high school.
“Now, as we stand at the beginning of a new season, my heart is filled with a fervent desire that Notre Dame achieve the glory we all dream of: a football national championship,” Buechner wrote. “I am driven by a determination to give my all, to push my limits and to be a part of something greater than myself.”
“My journey back to Notre Dame has been a journey of reflection and redemption. I have learned that home is not just a place, it is a sense of belonging, a sense of being part of a family that will be there for you no matter where the road takes you.”
(Photo: Corey Perrin/Florida Times Union/USA Today)
