Tyler Buchner returning to Notre Dame football team as walk-on WR

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Former Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner will return to the Irish football program next season as a walk-on wide receiver, the next step in a college career that has seen Buchner switch schools, switch sports and win two championships along the way.

On Friday, Buchner announced his intentions in an open letter posted on Notre Dame’s athletics website. Head coach Marcus Freeman confirmed the news in a roundtable session with reporters after meeting with Buchner this spring about his desire to rejoin the Irish football in whatever capacity the head coach would allow.

Freeman didn’t want to cloud Notre Dame’s quarterback room by reinserting Buchner there, considering Buchner’s last appearance for the Irish football program was an MVP performance in a Gator Bowl win against South Carolina. But Freeman didn’t want to turn down a chance to reintegrate Buchner in some way because Buchner was said he was willing to do whatever he could to assist.

“He just wants to help the football program,” Freeman said. “(He said), ‘I love Notre Dame. In any capacity.’ We went through some different capacities. ‘Even if you (just) let me on the team, I would do that.’ I met with the coaches. Talked to some of our players. Came to the decision that we’ll allow him to walk onto the football team.”

Buchner transferred out of Notre Dame after spring practice a year ago once the Irish made their intentions clear with Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman. He followed former offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to Alabama and finished behind Jalen Milroe in a quarterback competition that stretched into the season. Buchner started against USF in Week 3 but was benched by Nick Saban and did not see the field for the rest of the season.

In his open letter, Buchner detailed how that week changed his perspective on football, which ultimately led him to pick lacrosse back up this winter, joining the back-to-back national champions. Buchner wrote that his decision to leave Notre Dame was influenced by his losing sight of what drew him from San Diego to South Bend in the first place.

“As a 20-year-old, the ache of leaving behind the Fighting Irish was overshadowed by the pull of the transfer portal and the promise of playing one season for Coach Saban as the next logical step towards playing in the NFL,” Buchner wrote. “But I had forgotten why I chose Notre Dame in the first place, and it took a season away to realize what I had and why I loved Notre Dame.”

Buchner wrote that he “fell into a deep emotional hole” at Alabama after being benched before ultimately volunteering to run the scout-team offense, helping the Crimson Tide to win the SEC and make the College Football Playoff, where they lost to Michigan in the Rose Bowl. At that point, Buchner knew he was headed back to Notre Dame after the season. He just couldn’t have imagined football would again be part of his story.

“Notre Dame has always been a place of faith and redemption, but I never imagined the extent of its generosity until the day Coach Freeman allowed me to rejoin the football team as a walk-on,” Buchner wrote. “Being able to play the game I have loved since I can remember and playing for Notre Dame had been my dream. I risked it all and believed I had lost it all, as I did not think even returning to football at Notre Dame would be in the cards.”

Buchner will continue to play lacrosse; Freeman consulted with head coach Kevin Corrigan before taking the former national quarterback prospect back. Buchner may be in line for an expanded role with lacrosse next season, but his time will be limited during the fall semester by football, whether that’s running scout team, battling on the depth chart or just signaling plays in from the sideline.

In the end, Buchner couldn’t quit Notre Dame football. Not after changing schools. Not after turning back to the sport that he first figured would take him to college before he moved toward football in high school.

“Now, as I stand on the threshold of another season, my heart swells with a fervent desire to help Notre Dame achieve the glory we all dream of — a National Championship in football,” Buchner wrote. “I am driven by the determination to give my all, to push beyond my limits, and to be a part of something greater than myself.

“The journey back to Notre Dame has been one of reflection and redemption. It has taught me that home is not just a place, but a feeling of belonging, of being part of a family that stands by you, no matter where the road leads.”

(Photo: Corey Perrine / Florida Times-Union / USA Today)