Tyler Buchner potentially joining Notre Dame lacrosse: 'It's something he really wants to do'

Tyler Buchner entered the NCAA transfer portal on Monday, but not in the way you might think. He’s going to be playing men’s lacrosse next year back at Notre Dame.

On3’s Pete Nakos, who has been reporting on Buchner’s ongoing portal story, joined Andy Staples to discuss the latest he has heard on the former Alabama quarterback, and what went into him making this rather unprecedented decision.

“I think that he just wants to reassess and explore all options,” Nakos told Staples. “This season at Alabama definitely did not go as I think he envisioned and maybe some others envisioned, obviously. Jalen Milroe has been fantastic and Alabama is in the College Football Playoff now, largely because of his performance in the late stretch. But yeah, Tyler Buchner is going to be in the men’s lacrosse free agency market.

“And as funny as that is to say, I think it’s something he really wants to do. He is not going to rush this decision, but as Blue and Gold’s Mike Singer reported earlier tonight — and I have heard from some other people, too — [he could be] returning to Notre Dame being on the Fighting Irish is men’s lacrosse team. It would be a really good fit for Tyler.”

Buchner was actually committed to Michigan at one point for lacrosse, and was of the nation’s top recruits in the 2021 class. His commitment to the Wolverines came in April of 2017 when Buchner was in eighth grade, according to insidelacrosse.com’s Terry Foy.

According to a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Buchner still isn’t ruling out a return to football as well. He would just be a two-sport athlete, which we see throughout college athletics on a yearly basis. Think Kyler Murray‘s stint with the Oklahoma baseball team after his Heisman Trophy campaign. Most recently, UCF‘s John Rhys Plumlee threw for two touchdowns in the Knight’s spring game this past season before taking a golf cart over to the baseball field for a game that he recorded two hits in.

If Buchner chooses to focus on lacrosse full-time, he would have ended his three-year college football career logging 1,010 passing yards on a 54.7% completion percentage to go with six touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Whether he makes a return to South Bend in a football capacity remains to be seen, but Buchner will be joining a strong Notre Dame team coming off the first national championship in program history under head coach Kevin Corrigan.