Former Alabama football quarterback Tyler Buchner's career path took him back to Notre Dame to play lacrosse after transferring away from the Crimson Tide. However, what seemed like the end of his football career is no longer.

Buchner announced Friday that he's joining Notre Dame's football team as a walk-on, fresh off winning a lacrosse national championship with the Fighting Irish. Multiple reports have added Buchner will also player receiver, instead of quarterback, the position he was rated a four-star recruit as.

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The move comes on the heels of Buchner seemingly retiring from football after playing the 2023 season at Alabama, where he was named the starter for the Crimson Tide's game against USF. Buchner struggled in his last appearance at Alabama, completing 5 of 14 passes for 37 yards in replacement of starter Jalen Milroe. Buchner was later benched in the 17-3 win by Ty Simpson.

I got the green light to start in the third game of the season and had the best week of practice of my career leading up to it," Buchner wrote in his Notre Dame announcement. "Unfortunately, I played poorly and was benched for the first time in my life by Coach Saban on ESPN. I was devastated and fell into a deep emotional hole.

"What I had been working so hard for all these years suddenly felt like a pipe dream. And over the following weeks, I felt hopeless and hated football. I had to dig deep to realize that I would have to seek new goals there in Tuscaloosa."

Buchner later said, however, he embraced a new challenge as the scout team quarterback later in the season, mentioning former coach Nick Saban thanked him for playing a pivotal role in Alabama's win over LSU.

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"After the game, Coach Saban found me and thanked me for helping the team beat the Tigers," Buchner wrote. "I had discovered a new role on the team and recognized that one bad game would not define my contribution. I learned to truly appreciate having shared goals in the common pursuit of excellence, even if I was not playing."

Buchner noted he had scholarship offers from other schools to play quarterback after leaving Alabama, but said he decided he'd rather be at Notre Dame regardless.

"Even though I knew I was potentially giving up on my football dreams, I turned them down and told my parents that I would pay my way through school because I only wanted to be at Notre Dame," Buchner wrote. "It would have been easy for the football coaching staff to see me just as a player who had left, but instead, I am grateful they were able to see me as a young man eager to return and contribute in any way I could for the greater good of the team."

Buchner started his career as a quarterback at Notre Dame, being named the starter in 2022 before suffering an injury that forced him out of 10 of 13 games that season. Buchner then opted to transfer to Alabama the following spring after Notre Dame added Wake Forest transfer Sam Hartman.

Tyler Buchner stats

Here are Buchner's year-by-year college football stats:

• 2021 (Notre Dame): 21 of 35 passing (60%) for 298 yards with three touchdowns to three interceptions; 46 carries for 336 yards with three touchdowns

• 2022 (Notre Dame): 46 of 83 passing (55.4%) for 651 yards with three touchdowns to five interceptions; 36 carries for 123 yards with four touchdowns

• 2023 (Alabama): 8 of 19 passing (42.1%) for 61 yards; three carries for 20 yards and a touchdown

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Tyler Buchner announces return to Notre Dame football as walk-on