Nick Saban Boosts QB Room With Notre Dame Four-Star Tyler Buchner As Transfer Looms For Other Alabama Signal-Callers

As Alabama exits the spring practice period and turns its focus toward the fall, its quarterback room just got even more crowded with the addition of Tyler Buchner. The former Notre Dame quarterback announced his commitment to the Crimson Tide on Thursday morning.

Buchner, a former four-star recruit in the Class of 2021, committed to play for the Fighting Irish in 2019 over offers from Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nebraska, USC, and 10 others.

Among those "others" was Alabama. Tyler Buchner was always a lock to begin his college football career in South Bend, but Saban, then-special teams coordinator Jeff Banks and then-offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian made a strong, unsuccessful push to get him to flip.

It's coming full-circle two years later.

Buchner committed to play for Tommy Rees at Notre Dame. Rees was hired as the offensive coordinator at Alabama earlier this spring. Now Buchner is headed to Tuscaloosa to play for his former coach and will compete with Jalen Milroe and Ty Simpson for the starting job.

Neither of Alabama's returning quarterbacks was particularly impressive during the spring period. The spring game did not show an abundance of riches.

In fact, as rumors swirled surrounding Tyler Van Dyke, Saban left the door wide open. He didn't explicitly speak to the quarterback position, but his comments about the transfer portal were pretty telling.

Sure enough, although it wasn't Miami's signal-caller, Alabama added another arm. Buchner won the starting job at Notre Dame last year, before an injury forced him to miss most of the year, and will hope to earn the same nod before the fall.

Tyler Buchner in, Ty Simpson and/or Jalen Milroe out?

With the addition of Buchner, presumably, marks the subtraction of either Simpson or Milroe, or both. Both guys could choose to stay, sure, but the odds of all three quarterbacks being on the Crimson Tide roster come Week 1 are slim. Especially in the modern era, in which player movement is more prevalent than ever.

Saban said just last week that the transfer portal "isn't a one-way street." By that logic, for every one that comes in, at least one will go out and vice versa.

Should Buchner win the starting job, it is probable that one of the two backups will exit. If either Simpson or Milroe win the starting job, the other will presumably seek opportunity elsewhere instead of sticking around to serve as the third-string.

All of this could also come to fruition before fall camp. Milroe and/or Simpson could see the writing on the wall and hit the portal in the next three days (the current window closes on April 30 and the next window will not open until December) with hopes of competing for the starting role at another program during fall camp, like Tyler Buchner will in Tuscaloosa.

It could also go the other way, though it would be a shock if all three quarterbacks were to stay. Especially considering that Buchner has three years of eligibility left. If anyone can convince them to stick around, though, it would be the greatest college football coach of all-time!