Notre Dame Football: 3 reasons Tyler Buchner should be QB1 in 2021

After impressing in Notre Dame football’s spring game, fans are starting to jump on the Tyler Buchner hype train and it seems like he may be the top option for the Irish moving forward.

Brian Kelly brought in Jack Coan from Wisconsin to compete for the starting job as a senior and Drew Pyne also returns for his sophomore season but didn’t have the best spring game and his size might hold him back in the quarterback battle this offseason.

But Buchner may have taken an early lead in the race with his 6-for-9 for 140 yards and a rushing touchdown performance. Pyne completed just 11-of-23 passes for 146 yards and an interception and Coan wasn’t much better, going 18-for-32 with 197 yards and a pick.

I’ll just say it: Buchner should be Notre Dame’s starter in 2021, and here’s why.

3. Buchner has a perfect mentor in Tommy Rees

If there’s any situation in which Tyler Buchner may thrive due to coaching, it would have to be at Notre Dame and that’s why him being QB1 would make a ton of sense.

Brian Kelly has only started one true freshman at quarterback in his tenure with Notre Dame and — you guessed it — it was Tommy Rees about a decade ago. Rees took over as the starter in 2010 as a true freshman and had some ups and downs. He would go on to start for the remainder of his career when he was healthy and now he’s the Irish’s offensive coordinator.

If Buchner does win the starting job, Rees would be able to help him adjust to life as a true freshman starting quarterback because he was in that situation before. He would be able to let him know what to do and what not to do.

There’s no better mentor for this situation than the only true freshman to ever start for Kelly.