‘I felt a pulling’: Why Brady Quinn chose to play quarterback at Notre Dame
At least once he was firmly involved in the recruiting process, it was always going to be a Midwestern school for Dublin, Ohio native Brady Quinn.
The son of an Ohio State state graduate, Quinn grew up going to Ohio State games around 20 minutes away from home and frequented Buckeyes football camps. When it came time to seriously consider playing college football, Ohio State was firmly in the mix for the quarterback. So were Michigan and Notre Dame.
“There was a decent amount of familiarity,” Quinn said of Ohio State on the latest episode of the Varsity House Podcast, which is hosted by former Irish defensive back Shaun Crawford. “I don’t know if it was too close to home to appreciate it, and I don’t know that I fully appreciated it really until the very end, meaning before Signing Day.”
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Quinn was the class of 2003, and it was the 2002 Buckeyes that topped seemingly unstoppable Miami 31-24 in double overtime to win the BCS National Championship. Ohio State had the Notre Dame commit’s attention once again, if only for a minute.
“That was probably the only point in time when I second guessed the decision to go to Notre Dame,” Quinn said. “I loved Coach (Jim) Tressel. He was the best. Obviously, there were some guys on the team ahead of me that I had played against or the guys that were going there from around the area, around the state, that I had met. Great guys, and you could feel that they were going to be successful.
“But it didn’t feel like it was the right fit for me.”
Quinn stuck with his commitment, and the rest is Notre Dame history. The signal-caller played for the Irish from 2003-06. He went on to be one of the greatest to ever don a gold helmet in South Bend, to shatter numerous quarterback records, to finish as high as third in the voting for the Heisman Trophy, and to lead a struggling football program back to national relevance. Quinn still holds the Notre Dame records for career passing yards (11,762), single-season passing yards (3,919), career touchdown passes (95) and single-season touchdown passes (37). He is the only Irish quarterback to ever throw for six scores in one game.
So what made the son of a Buckeye and native of the Columbus, Ohio area defect across state lines and enroll in enemy territory?
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“It’s hard to explain to people unless you’ve been to Notre Dame, unless you went there,” Quinn said. “You go ‘Oh, OK. It’s very different.’ There’s a different feel from it.”
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Like almost all Irish players, academics were a factor for Quinn. But it was another characteristic of the university that separated Notre Dame from Ohio State and Michigan — the Wolverines were in the race until the very end, too.
“I don’t open up and say that a bunch, but I felt more of a pulling to be there, to develop as a man spiritually, too,” Quinn said. “I thought that was the biggest differentiator.”
Now, Quinn, who is a football analyst for Fox, is able to travel the country as a part of Fox’s “Big Noon Kickoff” crew. He’s been to Ohio State, Michigan, Oklahoma, Baylor and others.
But thanks to a decision made two decades ago, Notre Dame will always be home.
“It’s different,” Quinn said. “I’m telling you, when people go there and families go there, it hits different.”
