He attends meetings and workouts and team functions. He brings energy to the games, slapping teammates enthusiastically as they return to the sidelines. He toggles between wishing no ill on anyone and hoping for battlefield promotion.
Then it happens. The backup becomes the starter. He trades his ball cap for a helmet. He tries his best to project cool, winning his teammates’ confidence, and then tries to alchemize all that preparation into results.
So it went for Drew Pyne. In the second game of Notre Dame’s 2022 campaign, starting quarterback Tyler Buchner sprained a joint in his nonthrowing shoulder, necessitating surgery. In stepped Pyne, a redshirt sophomore. Suddenly he was the Notre Dame quarterback—the belt holding up the pants, the spindle on which the offense is wound.
