Well that "reuniting" story neatly evades the actual issue, doesn't it? It doesn't mean they didn't talk before he was in the portal. It just sounds aw-shucks "good."
Bama recruited Buchner to transfer before Buchner entered the portal. Yesterday Buchner enetered the portal on a "no contact" basis (no coaches could legally contact him). He already knew where he was going. He flew to Bama hours later and committed. He announced this morning.
People at Miami claimed a few days earlier that Bama had been in contact with their QB too, who was not in the portal.