Notre Dame Will Likely Exit Spring Without Clear Timeline for Naming Starting Quarterback
Readers of Irish Sports Daily know that Tyler Buchner outplayed Wake Forest transfer quarterback Sam Hartman during both full practices open to local media.
Hartman is still the presumptive favorite to win the job after setting a new ACC record with 110 career touchdown passes in five seasons with the Demon Deacons, but it's now difficult for fans to avoid pondering a once unthinkable question:
What happens if Buchner wins the job?
The Fighting Irish jumped ahead of the brewing public quarterback controversy on Friday with a story at ESPN. The program made Marcus Freeman, Gerad Parker, Sam Hartman and others available to Adam Rittenberg the day before a press conference with the head coach and offensive and defensive coordinators inside Notre Dame Stadium.
With the annual Blue-Gold Game a week away, Freeman says there’s no timeline for naming the program’s starting quarterback.
“Somebody asked me the same question yesterday,” Freeman said on Saturday. “We’ll name a starting quarterback when I’m fully confident we have one starting quarterback. I think they both could be starting quarterbacks for us right now.”
In reality, the competition between Buchner is likely closer than the media can reasonably evaluate based on a limited number of practice viewings. Plus, both practices likely favored Buchner, the quarterback with two years of experience in Notre Dame's pro-style system and more familiarity with the team’s receiving corps.
The defense worked in new blitz packages in the full practices local media members attended. Additionally, Notre Dame considered Wednesday a “third-down day,” where the offense started each play in team periods at a disadvantage.
“When it’s third-and-long, that’s not a good situation for the offense,” Freeman said, “but as I told them, there’s a lot of positives that maybe the outcome doesn’t show. That’s where my focus is. I’m not looking at who won or lost a drill.”
It appears Hartman impressed during Notre Dame’s scrimmage inside the stadium on Saturday. Freeman says the offense won in a contested battle that came down to the final series. He recalled it ending with Hartman running in a touchdown.
The offense turned the ball over once after a running back failed to secure a handoff.
“You’re talking 90 plays and only one fumble,” Freeman said. “That’s really, really encouraging. No pre-snap penalties. Those are the things that say, ‘Okay, you are progressing as an offense. You’re doing the little things efficiently.’ That’s really good to see. There were no interceptions thrown. The Guys seemed to be executing at a high level.”
Despite a back-and-forth battle, there doesn’t appear to be any tension or ill will inside the Fighting Irish quarterback room. The quarterback duo quickly bonded upon Hartman’s arrival.
“Why would I not become friends with him, be a great teammate and be supportive in every way I can?” Buchner said. “ That will make life better for the both of us, right? Or I can choose to totally block out the guy and be like, 'no, I'm the guy.'
“We spend probably six hours a day with each other. That would be miserable.”
Perhaps Hartman expected to have the job locked up by now, but both train with the same private quarterback Coach Taylor Kelly, so it’s unlikely Hartman transferred to Notre Dame dubious of Buchner’s talent.
“Any time you add maturity and guys like Sam Hartman to your program and to your room, all it does is make everybody better,” Parker said. “Notre Dame has taught me now, more than ever, that’s what Notre Dame is about. We want to put special people in this program, from the head coach down. When you do that, it’s the adage that a high tide raises all boats.
“That’s what I’ve seen and we’ve seen as a staff. I’m not dodging the question everyone is going to want to ask. The development has been good. Buchner and Sam have both played at a high level.”
Overall, the coaching staff views the competition between Hartman and Buchner as a net positive.
Neither quarterback can afford to take a day off. Each also brings different perspectives that the other can learn from. Buchner knows the offense well enough to help teach it to Hartman and new quarterback coach Gino Guidugli in March, while came to Notre Dame with five years of college football experience.
“If you can have a competition and two guys are getting better, that’s what you want. That’s what you want,” Freeman said. “They’re both getting better and practicing at a high level.
“We’ll name a starter at some point. I know we have to. I don’t plan to let this go into the season.”