Notre Dame Football Recruiting: Tyler Buchner’s short lived 5 star status

Notre Dame’s 2021 class received it’s first five star recruit today when the latest 247 composite rankings came out. Tyler Buchner jumped up five spots from 47th to 25th and received a fifth star in the process. He becomes just the fourth Notre Dame quarterback, in the modern recuriting era, to garner a five star ranking, joining the infamous company of Jimmy Clausen, Dayne Crist and Gunner Kiel. That he received the distinction of being a five star player should come as a shock no one.

That’s what I had written before the rug was pulled from under my feet. An hour ago, news broke that 2021 Notre Dame Fighting Irish QB commit Tyler Buchner had moved up to 25th in the 24/7 Composite rankings and received a fifth star, I even took this now vintage photograph to use for the story!

It was short lived however...

Leaving me to look at the article I had written with dismay.

Was I going to just crumple it up like the Chicago local news lady? No! Tyler Buchner spent his junior year re-writing the California record books, certainly I could re-write this article!

The quality of prospect that Tyler Buchner is, should not be understated, regardless of the five spots/fifth star he lost in a half hour. Former Notre Dame, and now Boston College Quarterback, Phil Jurkovec was referred to by many as a heralded recruit. The fact is, he was ranked just 83rd in his class, some services didn’t even have him in their top 100. Buchner is most certainly a step above anything we’ve seen around these parts in a good while. Just three in the last twenty years have been ranked higher, so it’s safe to say a quarterback of his acumen is rare. New offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is going to initially be judged based on how he polishes Ian Book’s skill set this upcoming season, but his legacy might very well be established by how he molds Tyler Buchner.

Buchner will likely earn his fifth star if he replicates his junior season this fall. The real bummer is that the momentum of carrying that fifth star would have been a nice feather for what’s upcoming. Josh wrote about it yesterday:

The big spring recruiting push is beginning at the end of next month and who better to wrangle up some additional help than Notre Dame’s latest five star top 30 recruit? (dammit it just doesn’t have the same ring to it!)

I mostly am tongue and cheek about this silly 5star/4star nonsense. Whether Tyler Buchner ends up getting his fifth star or not, it really doesn’t matter to me. Just like when Chris Tyree lost his fifth star, I wasn’t concerned. The talent is undeniable. Here’s an almost ten minute long video of Buchner’s junior year highlights sure to set your heart aflutter. Try and not get excited about this kid after watching this.