Drew Pyne Ready To Take Over As Notre Dame's Starting Quarterback
Junior Drew Pyne’s time at quarterback is here. After Notre Dame head football coach Marcus Freeman’s announcement Monday that Tyler Buchner will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury, Pyne has been elevated to the No. 1 on the Fighting Irish quarterback depth chart.
Pyne played in four games in his first two seasons at Notre Dame and entered the game in relief of Buchner in Saturday’s loss to Marshall. Freeman expects the Connecticut native's leadership to guide him on the field as he takes the helm of the Fighting Irish offense.
"You're thrust into a leadership position where you're a quarterback and you want people to be able to follow you, not just through your action, but only through your words and who you are as a leader,” Freeman said. "He's a natural leader. (He) has a lot of the natural QB traits that you're looking for.”
Pyne is not as immobile as last year’s Irish starter, Jack Coan, but he doesn’t have Buchner’s 4.5 speed. Notre Dame’s offense has been inconsistent through the first two games of the season, but Freeman doesn’t expect the offensive system to change drastically with Buchner out and Pyne in.
"I don't see the offense changing extremely,” Freeman note. "We'll still be able to do some of the QB runs that we did with Tyler, and the passing game ... we'll continue to enhance it and figure out ways to be more consistent in it (and) put him in a situation to hopefully have more completions.
"I don't see the offense in terms of the entire package changing because of Drew being at quarterback,” Freeman continued. "But I do see us trying to look and see okay, hey, where can we be more efficient and as an offense?”
Through two losses, the Irish offense is still trying to find its footing. Buchner completed just 56% of his 50 pass attempts for 378 yards. He threw two interceptions before his injury, while Pyne was 3 for 6 for 20 yards with a third interception before finding Michael Mayer for a touchdown pass in the loss to Marshall.
The Irish running game has also only averaged 3.1 yards per carry and 103 yards per game, to date. Buchner is currently the team’s leading rusher with 62 yards on 24 carries. Pyne won’t put up big rushing numbers, but Freeman does expect him to at least be a factor in the run game.
"I think the ability to pull the ball and zone reads to make a team respect you as a quarterback being able to run the ball is something that Drew can do,” Freeman explained. “And so, the passing game, I don't see much change in that package. But it's okay, what exactly runs (are we) going to have him do in the run game?”
The Irish moved the ball best against the Thundering Herd when they used a tempo offense, similar to when they were successful last year with Coan. That’s something Freeman believes Pyne will be able to do as well.
Pyne lost out to Coan for the starting job last year and then lost the job to Buchner again during this year’s fall training camp. Pyne took the news hard, but kept his head up after Freeman delivered the news.
"I remember that conversation my office and I told him that you know what, we made a decision, but I've never been a part of a program where you haven't used more than one quarterback throughout the course of season,” Freeman recalled. “I didn't know when his time was going to come, but I knew it was going to come at some point, and here it is. So he's always prepared like the starter, he's prepared like a pro. That's who Drew Pyne is.
“He (doesn’t) need to be any different than who he's always been,” continued the Irish head coach. “No matter if he's QB1 or QB2, he was a leader. (He) came out there with great energy.”
With Pyne elevated to the starting role, Steve Angeli has moved up the depth chart as well. The freshman from Westfield, NJ was the scout team quarterback entering the season, behind Buchner, Pyne and Ron Powlus III, but he is now No. 2 on the depth chart.
"I spent some time, obviously, with him on the scout team,” Freeman noted. “I've been trying to be pretty involved with those guys and especially the scout team offense. Steve is another guy that has those natural leadership traits about him. He took ownership of that scout team offense and that was good to see that. He's got a strong arm, you know, but it's a little bit different when you're looking at a card right? Because you're gonna have to, you know, read the defense and get the signals and put the guys in the right position.
"He made a lot of progress from the start of spring to the end of spring and even fall camp and so I'm sure that he'll be meeting extra with Coach (Tommy) Rees and, you know, Drew will be pulling him along and helping them along and Tyler Buchner, that's going to be his role, now,” Freeman continued. "You got to become a coach, and you got to somehow make our team better, even though you're not gonna be playing and so I see some growth in him.”
Angeli was an early enrollee this past spring, so he was able to get into the playbook, which he’ll have to know more of now, but he is still playing catch up. Freeman won’t expect him to be able to do everything Pyne can do, but there could be a package to bring him along.
"We have to figure out what can Steve Angeli handle and what plays can he be efficient with if he has to go into the game right now,” Freeman said. "And hopefully that package will continue to grow as we move forward.”
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