Notre Dame Football: The quiet camp of quarterback Tyler Buchner

Has there been something missing from tyhe media’s coverage of Notre Dame’s fall football camp? Probably not as the sheer number of media outlets reporting on the Irish is quite large, and the things reported on, are the things handed to us by the university.

And yet... And yet I have come to realize that the coverage of Notre Dame’s starting quarterback feels a lot lighter this year than in year’s past. Maybe it’s all in my head, or maybe it’s a well played PR game by the university. Truth be told, there are real (a.k.a. non conspiratorial) reasons why the quarterback conversation has been light this fall camp.

• The lack of access to any type of scrimmaging.
• The lack of a real quarterback competition.
• Injuries elsewhere.
• New staff readying for its first season at ND.
• Massive question marks at WR.

When Tyler Buchner was announced as the starter, what were you excited about? Was it that Tyler Buchner represents the future of Notre Dame football, or was it that the “competition” was out of the way, and the team then had a month to rally behind him before they head to Columbus to take on Ohio State?

As someone who has always advocated for a strong public backing rather than holding information back for the first game, I was happy to hear how Buchner has reacted to his elevation as THE starting quarterback. Marcus Freeman says that he sees a consistency in what the sophomore quarterback is doing at the position.

“There’s that consistency amongst who’s the voice in that huddle and who’s the voice on the field with the ones. I think that’s important, that cohesiveness, that consistency in terms of who’s making the calls, who’s making the checks, and knowing who’s a quarterback. We thought it was really important to do it. I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen. It’s been two or three practices since we named him the starter. I’ve been really pleased with what I’ve seen.”

Well — that's exactly the kind of thing we like to hear. What we don’t like to hear is anything that has to do with turnovers. There weren’t a lot of fine details from the Marcus about the scrimmage the Irish ran on Thursday, but he did offer up a quick tale of the one turnover on the day — an interception of Tyler Buchner by TaRiq Bracy.

“It was one of those situations, I think Tyler was rolling out, getting ready to go out of bounds and threw it across his body, which we we know we don’t like. I think TaRiq Bracy picked it off. It’s one of those teaching moments that hey, I would much rather on third down throw the ball out of bounds and then turn the ball over. So again, you never want to turn the ball over, but you always as a head coach look for those teaching moments and that’s a moment that Tyler knows that he wished he can take back. He’s a competitor. He wants to to get every inch, man, and make a good decision throwing the ball out of bounds.”

Combine that with about three minutes worth of passing drills, and that’s what we have. I’m not mad about it, and I’m really not worried about it... I just find it to be very, very quiet.

Maybe that means Tyler Buchner is on track for a great season, or maybe it means there’s still a bunch of work to do. It also might mean that Notre Dame is doing a really fantastic job of keeping a lid on things before they face the Buckeyes.

Ever since Tyler Buchner committed to Notre Dame, fans from all over have been excited and eager for what’s to come on September 3. I just find the quiet camp of Buchner to be a little odd — even with everything else going on within the program.