I will agree to disagree with you that his ability and skill set are not elite. His ceiling imo is an elite QB at the college level.
I agree with you that he certainly has a lot to prove with his passing on Saturday's, but there is evidence that he is much closer to doing that than not. IMO some of these guys that report on ND football are clowns. I have listened to many different ND media members for a while now and to me hands down the best is Driskell and his team. They know the game of football and exactly what they are looking at, and are fair and honest in assessment. I listened to many podcasts of theirs (I highly recommend by the way) this spring and summer and this is what they saw and came away with. Buchner has shown great feet, an ability to throw on the run, hit deep balls accurately, throw receivers open, and throw from different arm slots. Throwing short routes consistently has given him some trouble, but all accounts are that he has worked hard on that and has gotten better. Driskell’s team has said that Buchner is the number one hands down both in the eye test and, their words, "He got 90% of the 1st team reps in practice on Friday."
Also, Freeman's not stupid. If I were him, I would absolutely downplay Buchner's ability to throw. Then come Sept. 3rd and Bam here you go.