On a night when one of Alabama’s quarterbacks will see his dreams come true in the NFL Draft, there was also some more bombshell news in the lead-up regarding the Crimson Tide’s quarterbacks.
Former Notre Dame quarterback Tyler Buchner announced his intentions to commit to Alabama, adding a new name to the competition this fall.
During an appearance on College Gameday on ESPN, head coach Nick Saban explained the thought process of adding a new quarterback into the mix.
“We wanted to give our quarterbacks in our program every opportunity to win the job in spring practice,” Saban said. “We felt like we needed to add some competition to the room, and Tyler was certainly a guy that was gonna be the starter last year at Notre Dame, go injured, played in the bowl game, played really well.
So we thought he would add a lot of competition, and we think he’s got the right kind of character and attitude to be a positive influence on our team.”
Buchner began 2022 as the Fighting Irish’s starting quarterback but injuries forced him to miss a majority of the year. In his limited appearances, Buchner threw for 651 yards, three touchdowns, five interceptions and completed 55.4% of his passes. He did end the season strong leading Notre Dame to a Gator Bowl victory over then No. 19 South Carolina 45-38.
Alabama offensive coordinator Tommy Rees is also very familiar with Buchner’s game as he was also his offensive coordinator at Notre Dame for his two seasons of play.
The Crimson Tide now has five scholarship quarterbacks on its roster including Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson, who were the two competing for the job in spring football, as well as a pair of talented freshmen Dylan Lonergan and Eli Holstein.
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Patrick Dowd is a Reporter for Touchdown Alabama Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter, via Pat_Dowd77
