We knew there would most likely be a shakeup of sorts in the Notre Dame quarterback room this off-season. We did not know it would start this soon. On Friday, Drew Pyne announced that he will be entering the transfer portal with three years of eligibility remaining. Pyne reportedly will not play in Notre Dame’s bowl game.
Pyne lost the starting quarterback job to Tyler Buchner this summer but found himself squarely with the reigns of the QB1 position by week three after Tyler Buchner was lost for the regular season with a -shoulder injury in the Marshall game. Over the final 10 games of the season, Pyne guided the Irish to a mark despite some wild ups and downs along the way. When Pyne was good in 2022, he was very good. He completed more than 70% of his passes in each of his first three starts and then finished the season completing 88.5% for a career-high 318 yards against USC.
In between the highs of those first three games and the USC finale, there were some pretty low lows. In Notre Dame’s loss to Standford, Pyne completed a meager 48.1% of his passes on 27 attempts. He completed just half of his attempts against lowly UNLV. And even in Notre Dame’s big win over Clemson, Pyne was just 9 of 17 for a mere 85 yards.
On the season, Pyne threw for just over 2,000 yards with 22 touchdowns to 6 interceptions with a 64.6% completion percentage. Solid numbers for any starter, for sure, but the volatility from week to week left Notre Dame and the coaching staff wondering what version they’d get each week.
Because of that volatility, it’s no surprise that Notre Dame has already been mentioned as a potential landing spot for transfer portal quarterbacks like Hudson Card (Texas) and Brennan Armstrong (Virginia). The writing was on the wall that another quarterback competition was going to take place at Notre Dame again this spring. With Pyne deciding to transfer, there’s one less competitor in that race.
With Pyne set to enter the portal, Notre Dame could turn back to Tyler Buchner, who is reportedly going to play in the bowl game, according to coaching change insider John Brice. If Buchner is cleared but not able to start, then Notre Dame would be forced to turn to true freshman Steve Angeli, who would be making his first career start.
With Pyne leaving the program, there seems to be no doubt whatsoever that a transfer portal quarterback will be coming into Notre Dame. The only question is, who? Players who intend on entering the portal are not able to officially do so until Monday unless their school has undergone a coaching change this off-season.
As sometimes happens, you all just got exactly what you asked for.
If this works out for Coach Freeman,
after the Bowl he’ll be 9-4. If not, he
will start the 2023 season at 8-5, with a zero and two record for Bowl games.
I wonder where we will play?…..at 8-4, it would be nice to play someone with 8 or 9 wins, but I would be happy with the Jamaicha Bowl against just about anybody with a winning record.
BGC 77 82
Yes…UHND rants almost always result in swift personnel changes with the ND fottball program.
Sober up, fer crissakes.
2 time Heisman winner Phil Jurkovec is in the portal.
Better than Pyne
Yup. Which is partly why Pyne is cleaning out his locker.
Ptyne started, what, 10 games?
Call that at least 650 live game snaps.
He can’t say he never got a fair shake, or a real good look, or the chance to improve.
He just didn’t measure up.
All-time asshole Rhonda is on her period.
Pyne was clearly playing way over his ability much like his OC Rees during his playing days at ND. Pyne is doing all of us a huge favor by transferring. I wish him well wherever he ends up. He played hard and got the most out of his ability but clearly was not going to lead this team to the playoffs this year or any year. I look forward to seeing Buchner and Angelli play in there upcoming bowl game. Not sure either one of these guys are the answer but clearly they are more talented than Pyne.
I think that is part of the reason Rees and he got along so well….very similar ND playing career narratives
Even before Buchner’s injury, the QB chart was a goddamn joke.
Because that lazy cocksmoker Kelly was a prick who could no longer attract good QBs to sgn up for his infamous bullshit, and he ran off leaving the cupboard bare.
The board is filling up now with revisionist bullshit, praising Pyne as if they’re at his memorial service.
He was a piss poor QB. Tried hard, just isn’t good. That’s it.
30 points a game won’t do it. All playoff national championship teams average 40 to 50 points a game. Even Nick Saban said its an offensive Era. Alabama and Lsu went back to back 15 and 0 seasons when each of them had 3 or 4 games where their defense gave up over 35 points a game. Even last year Georgia’s great defense gave up 41 points to Alabama and lost the sec championship and Alabama was well on their way toward 40 points in the national championship game until their 2 great receivers got injured and left the game.
So…hard core analytics guy, eh?
I’d like to see ND get a QB in the mold of Pat Mahomes. – a QB who can run and pass. Increasingly, the most successful teams in college possess some version of a dual threat. Obviously, we probably won’t find the next Caleb Williams.
However, there are many proficient dual threat QB’s coming out of hs and the portal. Let’s just find a very good one now!
Joe Montana! That would be neat !
Before they can get a Mahomes type they have to work on putting in compatible plays and dump the over complicated system Tommy has. It would be even nice r if the book was dumped whil Tommy was holding it.
You hate to lose a kid like Pyne as a character player.
But he’s got a better chance to play somewhere and grow while not worrying about National Championships.
ND really needs a QB tall enough to see
And who can get hit game after game. Especially with the running game.
ND needs to intimidate with an offense capable of scoring 30 points or more per game.
The only regret wrt “character” that ND should have is hiring its former head coach, who had none.
maybe pyne is sick of the abuse he gets here at uhnd.
Posts that make ya think….are preferable to that drivel.
For the success Pyne did have, most of it came with just one guy on the receiving end.
He seemed to be the only guy that gave Pyne confidence to be decisive and quick in releasing the ball.
Calling Mayer ‘clutch’ is a nice compliment to Mayer. But Mayer was Pyne’s ‘crutch’.
Mayer is gone. It’s not shocking that Pyne saw a need for change too.
….PS:
Without Mayer on the field in the bowl game, the chances that Pyne’s portal stock would take a hit in that game is very real.
Better for him to leave now, with his CV locked in now.
Hopefully this shake-up ends with more talent in the room.
I’m hearing lots of rumors about Sam Hartman
Sam Hartman is a mature, solid leader and can really sling it.
He had a nightmare Q3 against Lousiville, but he’s a damn good QB.
Calm down, boys. BK is the winningest coach in ND history. Did he recruit championship caliber quarterbacks? No. Could he take ND to the next level? No. What he did do is rescue the program. Same can be said for Drew in 2022.