Drew Pyne Adjusting, Succeeding During Under Armour All-America Week

ORLANDO – Drew Pyne‍ wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to compete at the Under Armour All-America Game down here this week.

Not only has the 2020 Notre Dame quarterback signee competed, he’s shined.

“I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play down here due to my injury,” the Connecticut native said of the injury which caused him to miss New Canaan High School’s final playoff game last month.

“But I ended up being OK.”

Not long after the injury, Irish head coach Brian Kelly conducted an in-home visit with Pyne and his family and the topic of this week’s all-star game came up.

“Coach Kelly and I talked about coming down here and competing against the best guys in the country and adjusting to the speed and practicing with these guys,” Pyne recalled.

“I think it was the best decision I could have made because coming down here, I really have improved a lot and it feels more comfortable to play against these guys and I’ll feel more comfortable going into college.”

Pyne said that this week’s practices have allowed him to adapt to that speed and improve every day.

“Obviously, playing with the best guys in the country, the speed of the game is second to none,” he said.

Fortunately for Pyne, some of that speed will be following him to South Bend in the form of Notre Dame running back signee Chris Tyree‍, who is also his teammate for Team Pressure down here this week.

“He’s lightning in a bottle,” Pyne said of Tyree. “I threw a touchdown to him today on a swing route. I kind of got tingles through my body. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s going to be special.’ Chris is unbelievable and I can’t wait to watch him next year.”

Pyne says he’s “completely fine” and “100 percent” following the injury and in fact, may be even better after taking almost a full month off from throwing, the longest period off he’s had in a long time.

“Obviously, just giving it a rest was good,” said Pyne, who has shown even more zip on his throws this week.

An early enrollee, Pyne will report to South Bend in 10 days.

“It’s kind of surreal,” he said. “I’m very excited. Obviously, I’m going to miss my family, but I’m very excited. It’s the peak of academics and athletics combined, so I’m really excited to get there with all of my teammates.”

Pyne and the other quarterbacks got schooled on what to expect at the next level in talks with Cam Newton and Steve Mariucci.

“Cam was great,” Pyne said. “He had no filter in what he was saying. He was speaking very real to us, talking about his mistakes and how he came back from it and talking about getting a mindset now of being ready to take all of the adversity of college and the pros.

“He was very real and similar to Coach Mariucci and what he said to all of the quarterbacks, getting our mindset ready for college and all of the adversity we’re going to face.”