College football transfer Tyler Buchner picks Alabama: What does it mean?
There was another major development in the college football transfer portal for the 2023 spring window as former Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner announced he committed to Alabama for the coming football season.
That decision follows his surprising move to enter the transfer portal rather than compete with Sam Hartman for the starting job with the Fighting Irish, and after it was revealed that there was a no-contact tag applied to Buchner's name in the portal, indicating that the player already had a destination in mind.
And, according to reports, so impressed with Buchner after his visit to Alabama that he canceled the other trips he had scheduled to pledge to the Tide instead.
Buchner outlined his motivations in a Twitter post, confirming his decision to move to the SEC and play for Nick Saban this fall.
Related: 2023 College Football Transfer Portal Tracker
What it means for Alabama
Buchner was short on playing time and opportunity at Notre Dame. He threw just 83 total passes, a small sample size to be sure, and in that time passed for three touchdowns and five interceptions.
He showed some real upside on his return from a shoulder injury to close out the season, earning MVP honors in Notre Dame's win over South Carolina in the Gator Bowl, a 45-38 shootout victory for the Fighting Irish.
Buchner hit around 54 percent of his throws in that game, passing for three touchdowns and rushing for two more, but also tossing three interceptions.
Buchner never went over 56 percent completion in his three appearances for the Irish, and he went 18 of 32 with no scores and two picks in a home loss to Marshall.
Looking at Alabama's spring scrimmage, it didn't appear that either Jalen Milroe or Ty Simpson, the two quarterbacks who have been competing so far this offseason, definitively separated themselves from one another and moved into the lead.
Milroe was 19 of 37 passing with two scores, rushing for 65 yards and another score, while Simpson was 12 of 26 throwing with an interception, and Saban didn't sound too impressed with what he saw on the field that day.
If either of those quarterbacks want to enter the portal now, they have until the end of the month, when the spring window closes.
Reunion with Rees
Alabama made waves this offseason when it hired former Notre Dame offensive coordinator Tommy Rees to lead the Tide's offense, and with Buchner's arrival on campus, the two will be reunited once again.
Rees was the one who named Buchner the Irish starter to begin last season and is considered the lead recruiter who brought the quarterback to that school.
Familiarity is always a plus between play-caller and quarterback, and Saban has suggested that Alabama will be modifying its offensive approach slightly this season, away from the more wide-open strategy the team has employed the last few years, and back towards the look of the early Saban teams, establishing the run and playing a more physical brand of football, taking some of the pressure off the quarterback.
Buchner, from then to now
Buchner was a former top 100 recruit nationally in the 2021 football recruiting class for the Irish and was named the starter to begin last season, including playing in the opener at Ohio State, but an injury forced him out of action.
He returned before the end of the season and was even named the MVP of Notre Dame's victory in the Gator Bowl over South Carolina, and has been competing with transfer quarterback Sam Hartman for the starting position at ND this offseason.
College football transfer portal
The NCAA Transfer Portal is a private database that includes the names of student-athletes in every sport at the Division I, II, and III levels. The full list of names is not available to the public.
A player can enter their name into the transfer portal through their school's compliance office. Once a player gives written notification of their intent to transfer, the office puts the player's name into the database, and they officially become a transfer.
The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player's request and NCAA rules forbid anyone from refusing that request.
The database includes the player's name, contact information, info on whether the player was on scholarship, and if he is a graduate student.
Once a player's name appears in the transfer portal database, other schools are free to contact the player, who can change his mind at any point in the process and withdraw from the transfer portal.
Notably, once a player enters the portal, his school no longer has to honor the athletic scholarship it gave him. And if that player decides to leave the portal and return to his original school, the school doesn't have to give him another scholarship.
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