Irish QB Quinn star attraction
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Not merely this season’s Heisman Trophy favorite, Brady Quinn is also a tourist attraction.
Earlier this month, a rumor quickly spread, correctly, that Notre Dame’s quarterback was inside a brick building on the edge of the school’s campus. A little group gathered outside on a sidewalk.
A doctor from Connecticut, driving to Chicago with his family, had been touring the school when they’d gotten the tip. The doctor’s son was wearing a $50 Brady Quinn No. 10 jersey, purchased at Notre Dame’s bookstore. They had been led to believe that Quinn wouldn’t have time to stop for an autograph, but Vince Fazzino told his family: “Just keep walking slowly back and forth.”
Another boy, from downstate Indiana, on campus for a baseball tournament, had a plan to get Quinn’s attention. He revealed it, striking a perfect Heisman pose.
If you’re not a close follower of college football and think “here we go, another over-hyped Notre Dame Heisman candidate,” get rid of the notion. Even if you took his jersey off and just looked at his resume, Quinn would be the obvious preseason Heisman favorite, a threat to be Notre Dame’s first Heisman winner since Tim Brown in 1987 and the first Notre Dame quarterback to win the trophy since John Huarte in 1964.
Going into his senior season, Quinn already is Notre Dame’s career passing and touchdown passes leader. He had a monster junior season, throwing for 3,919 yards and 32 touchdowns, with just seven interceptions in 450 attempts. Before Quinn, no Irish quarterback threw for as many yards in two seasons.
You often have to wait your turn in the Heisman race, and Quinn finished where he should have last season, fourth behind Reggie Bush, Vince Young and Matt Leinart, who all have moved on. Quinn believes he can get better in 2006 and master the pro system brought from the New England Patriots last year by coach Charlie Weis. Weis sees the same thing.
“Last year, we were able to put in a substantial amount of the offense because he was able to grasp it,” Weis said. “But there’s a difference between being able to grasp it and being able to take it mentally to another level. So now you give him more things to do – not necessarily call a whole bunch more plays. I don’t believe that you have to reinvent the wheel. You can give him more responsibility.”
Over the summer, he had a long phone conversation with Peyton Manning.
“Talking to Peyton, you truly realize he is a business guy,” Quinn said. “He is obviously a tremendous quarterback, a very talented athlete, but at the same point of time, he takes a business approach to everything. He looks at himself as his own corporation.”
Weis isn’t the type to coddle his star. Quinn found that out before he ever threw a pass for his new coach. Quinn had achieved plenty under former coach Tyrone Willingham. Even casual fans remember how he came on as a freshman and threw for 297 yards in his first start against Purdue, including an 85-yard TD pass to Maurice Stovall. As a sophomore, Quinn threw for 2,586 yards, the second-highest season total in Irish history.
But Weis saw something else. In his first two years as a starter, Quinn’s completion percentage had been a pedestrian 50.7. Weis made sure Quinn realized it, too, after he threw an incomplete pass in practice.
“He was talking about what was wrong (with) my footwork, but also said, “this is why you’re always going to be a 50-percent-completion passer.”
That one stuck with Quinn. More important, it didn’t turn out to be true. His 2005 percentage: 64.9, a Notre Dame single-season record for quarterbacks who threw at least 100 passes.