Tyler Buchner is his last game as ND Quarterback | Photo Credit: AP Photo/Gary McCullough The return of Tyler Buchner takes center stage It’s been a quiet week on the Notre Dame lacrosse front, nothing to see here, just keep walking. I kid, I kid... The regular season of Notre Dame football has come to an end and with that enters in bowl prep, the transfer portal and early signing day. It will be a busy month of December for our Irish in the football offices, but as it always does, with the end of the first semester upon us, this also signals something else: Notre Dame lacrosse and our spring season is not too far away now. And coming off our first ever National Championship, expectations and anticipation for our Fighting Irish lacrosse team is at an all time high. But just when you thought there couldn’t be another reason to tune in to catch Notre Dame lacrosse this spring, word came out on Tuesday that Tyler Buchner would be entering the transfer portal as a QB from Alabama, but instead of looking to take his football talents elsewhere, he will be looking to move to a school where he can play lacrosse. And while not officially official, all signs point to Buchner returning to South Bend to suit up and run out onto Arlotta this spring. Here is a tweet from Inside Lacrosse’s Terry Foy: I’m told that Buchner will finish the Bama football season with the team (as has been reported in multiple outlets), then intends to return to Notre Dame, where he’ll join the defending @NCAALAX champions @NDlacrosse in time for the 2024 season. https://t.co/RNY6JGiwps— Terry Foy (@TerenceFoy) December 5, 2023 And because I will only get one chance to do this, I will share my post that I put on Irish Sports Daily back in August of this year. Even a blind squirrel gets a nut sometimes 
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Photo Credit: Drew Brennan I have been following Notre Dame lacrosse for a really long time and it is always exciting to get the season underway. The anticipation for last year, coming off what happened at the end of 2022, was absolutely huge. This year, however, things might be off the charts with the Irish coming back as the defending national champions. The team is stacked and never before has there been so many prominent players that fans of lacrosse across the country know and are familiar with: Liam Entenmann, Pat Kavanagh, Chris Kavanagh and Eric Dobson just to name a few. Add in the Jordan Faison and Tyler Buchner football factor and the hype / buzz could get even higher if that is even possible. What does Tyler Buchner Bring to Notre Dame lacrosse? That is the big question and one that none of us, outside of probably the Notre Dame lacrosse coaching staff and his fellow lacrosse teammates, really know. For those who have followed Tyler across his lacrosse career, he committed as an 8th grader to Michigan lacrosse before fully committing to football and Notre Dame as a sophomore in high school. It is my understanding that he stopped playing lacrosse competitively when the ND commitment happened, but I could be wrong. There are videos out there of him playing lacrosse and here is one that that I found on YouTube from 2018 that highlights him scoring and taking faceoffs: https://www.youtube.com/embed/yEmdHR0RayI?rel=0
What we do know is that the Irish will be getting a strong and powerful athlete and you cannot have enough of those on your team. Where are his stick skills? We will find that out soon enough. Can he be a hammer on the man up unit? Maybe. Can he provide help on the wing to get ground balls on faceoffs? Maybe. Can he become an integral part of the Notre Dame midfield and be someone who challenges for good playing time? Maybe. No matter what, there is enough out there to get excited around Buchner and this is just another reason for people to come out this spring and support our Fighting Irish as they look to repeat and go back to back. And we mentioned this earlier in our article, but pair this Buchner news with the Jordan Faison football success story and the excitement around him as an Irish lacrosse player this spring? Not to mention #2 overall lacrosse recruit in Matt Jeffery who next year plans to play lacrosse and football? There is no shortage of story lines around Notre Dame lacrosse both this year and in the future. Can’t wait to see him at Arlotta in the spring. https://t.co/NIMcS4GNJ4— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) November 26, 2023 Other News and Notes: Inside Lacrosse came out with their Top 50 men’s college players, and as they have done in years past, they introduced ten at a time until they got to the Top 10. No surprise that the list was littered with Notre Dame players and here is where we netted out across the Top 50: #4 - Liam Entenmann #5 - Pat Kavanagh #13 - Eric Dobson #34 - Ben Ramsey #37 - Chris Kavanagh I think they did a pretty good job with Notre Dame’s representation (Chris Kavanagh is too low in my opinion), but I could also see a world where Will Donovan and Jake Taylor have a spot on this list. Both of them definitely would be in my Top 50. Final Thoughts and Notes: We don’t have the 2024 schedule yet, and Notre Dame is notorious for releasing it late, but we are starting to see other teams’ schedules come out so it gives us glimpses as to who and where the Irish will be playing this upcoming spring. We can expect nothing less than it being one of the toughest slates in all of college lacrosse and we know for sure there will be key ACC matchups as the season moves along, specifically with matchups against UVA and Duke. Both those squads are absolutely loaded (again) and I am sure they have one thing on their mind when it comes to Notre Dame........revenge. We are getting closer folks, buckle up... Go Irish!! One month closer to being back#GoIrish
pic.twitter.com/jZ7i0LAKqO— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) December 1, 2023 Source: https://www.onefootdown.com/2023/12/6/2 ... ootball-nd