What Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said about QB Drew Pyne entering transfer portal
Make no mistake. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman appreciates what backup-turned-starter Drew Pyne did for the Fighting Irish in 2022.
“Drew was tremendous,” Freeman said Sunday night during a Gator Bowl media availability.
Was. Past tense. Pyne isn’t going to play another down in a gold helmet. He won’t do his Conor McGregor strut for one more yard in a blue-and-gold uniform. After navigating Notre Dame to an 8-2 record in his 10 starts and a postseason berth in the Gator Bowl versus South Carolina Dec. 30, Pyne entered the NCAA transfer portal late last week.
His final act was throwing for 318 yards and 3 touchdowns against USC Nov. 26.
“You hate to see him leave and enter the portal, but as I told him in our meeting, what he has done for our program, for him to step in at the end of Week 2 versus Marshall and throughout the season, he did a tremendous job,” Freeman said.
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In a way, it was sort of storybook.
No, the final chapter did not end with a trophy. And it included a couple losses, most notably an inexplicable 16-14 failure on home turf from a Stanford team whose longtime head coach, David Shaw, just stepped down. But Pyne wasn’t ever supposed to start a single game for Notre Dame this season. He lost an offseason quarterback competition to sophomore Tyler Buchner but still led the Irish onto the field first 10 times.
Buchner coming back to full health could have certainly been a big piece in pushing Pyne into the portal. But Freeman detailed another component that was probably the deciding factor.
“We had a conversation this week, myself and Drew as well as many other players we have on our team, in terms of our intentions, my intentions, into certain positions looking for transfers,” Freeman said. “I’m always looking for ways to enhance our roster. I always want to be up front and honest, and I was with Drew. I told him that we would possibly look at taking a transfer quarterback.”
The transfer isn’t guaranteed a starting spot. He’s going to have to earn it like Buchner did in August. And given Buchner has only started two games in his career, Buchner is going to have to earn it again this offseason, too. Maybe Pyne felt he had done enough to be the frontrunner for the job going into 2022. He had the No. 20 passer rating in the country and threw 22 touchdown passes with just 6 interceptions.
But Notre Dame also only had the No. 74 total offense in the nation and that was with a rushing offense that ranked No. 42 at 182.8 yards per game. The Irish passing offense ranked No. 106 at 199.9 yards per game. There is an element of dynamism missing with the Notre Dame attack, and that usually starts with the signal-caller.
Freeman called it roster enhancement. Pyne might have viewed it as phasing him out. Now he’s gone.
“I did not want him to leave, but he made the decision to enter the portal, and I definitely respect the decision,” Freeman said.
