Tommy Rees pulls back the curtain on decision to add former Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner

It’s a three-way battle for Alabama‘s starting quarterback position as fall camp gets underway. It’ll either be veteran Jalen Milroe, blue-chipper Ty Simpson or transfer Tyler Buchner.

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees revealed the dynamic of bringing in someone as experienced as Buchner into an already competitive QB battle, and how Buchner has taken to Alabama since arriving in Tuscaloosa this summer.

“When he went into the portal, we looked at it as an opportunity to bring competition to the room. Competition at all positions and try to bring out the best and add an extra layer of development,” Rees said. “It’s going to help rise with the competition.

“One thing we’re trying to do to get the whole quarterback group to understand is where one person has success, you look at it as shared success. We want to be a group. We want to leave practice and say that the quarterback group had a great day. The other thing we want to see is when one quarterback has success, it’s going to challenge the rest of the group and when we do that, it can raise the level of play in the room.”

When that incoming transfer is someone that Rees knows very well — it adds another layer to Alabama’s quarterback battle.

“[Buchner] is a guy that I recruited at a young age, I spent two seasons with him. I think he provides a bit of a veteran presence in the room and adds some competition,” Rees said. “I think he has hit the ground running with the rest of the team, especially with the quarterbacks. It’s been a very healthy transition.”

Rees was Buchner’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame for the past two seasons. During their time together, Rees coached Buchner to a 56.8 percent (67-of-118) completion percentage, which has resulted in 949 passing yards, six touchdown passes and eight interceptions. He has also added 82 rushing attempts for 459 yards and seven more touchdowns.

Despite the familiarity between Rees and Buchner, many are expecting the former Fighting Irish signal-caller will finish third place in the three-man race. On3’s JD PicKell believes that Milroe will be the day one starter out of Alabama’s fall camp — but if anything starts to trend south, Simpson will be slotted in and it’ll be his job to lose from there. A switch at quarterback could come as early as Week 2 against Texas.