Former Notre Dame starting quarterback Tyler Buchner, who joined the school's lacrosse team this spring after playing football last fall at Alabama, will return to the Fighting Irish football team for the 2024 season as a walk-on.
Buchner will play wide receiver for the Irish. He had one assist in 10 games as a reserve midfielder for the Notre Dame lacrosse team, which won its second straight national championship Monday against Maryland. Buchner, a junior, will also play lacrosse at Notre Dame in 2025.
“Being able to play the game I have loved for as long as I can remember and playing for Notre Dame had been my dream,” Buchner wrote in a letter to the Notre Dame community. “I risked everything and thought I lost everything because I didn't even think returning to football at Notre Dame was in the cards.”
The 6-foot-1, 215-pounder opened the 2022 season as Notre Dame's starting quarterback before missing 10 games due to injury. After helping Notre Dame win the Gator Bowl, he competed for the starting job in the spring of 2023 with Sam Hartman before transferring to Alabama, where he reconnected with offensive coordinator Tommy Rees.
Last fall, Buchner started Alabama's Week 3 game against South Florida but struggled, completing 5 of 14 passes for 34 yards. In his letter, Buchner wrote that he was then benched for the first time in his career, “fell into a deep emotional hole” and “felt hopeless and hated football.” He wrote that he had scholarship opportunities to play quarterback elsewhere, but that he just wanted to return to Notre Dame, where he took nine classes this spring to complete his degree.
Buchner will join a group of wide receivers that includes Jordan Faison, a former player who starred for Notre Dame's lacrosse team this season, scoring 21 goals.
“It would have been easy for the football coaching staff to simply see me as a player who had left, but instead, I am grateful that they were able to see me as a young man eager to return and contribute in whatever way I can for the greater good of the team. “Buchner wrote.
Coach Marcus Freeman told ESPN in April that he had seen Buchner on the lacrosse field and wished him the best as he reacclimated to the sport.
“He is a great young man and comes from a great family that will continue to do great things in the athletic world, but [also] in the game of life,” Freeman said then. “We are a big fan of Tyler Buchner and I hope to see him have a lot of success.”
