Quarterback Brady Quinn impresses Notre Dame on unofficial visit — wait, what?
Brady Quinn was on Notre Dame's campus on Monday afternoon to spend some time with head coach Marcus Freeman and his assistants.
He felt great being back in South Bend, having last visited in early April. And when he picked up a football to show off his arm in front of the coaches, Quinn felt as confident — and as accurate — as ever.
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'(Quarterbacks) coach Gino (Guidugli) said I killed it,' Quinn said. 'I just think I had a really good performance.'
Oh, by the way, this Brady Quinn is 16 years old and lives in Naples, Fla. — not the Brady Quinn who starred at Notre Dame in the mid-2000s and departed with 36 school records.
This Brady Quinn is a Class of 2028 quarterback recruit who has already garnered 20-plus offers — but not one from Notre Dame (yet). And yes, he is named after the other Brady Quinn.
'I guess when I was born was around the time when Brady Quinn was really good,' young Brady said. '(My dad) was a big Notre Dame guy, so I guess I just got the name from that.
'But he never expected me to be a quarterback or to be this good. So it's kind of a shocking coincidence that this is all happening right now.'
Indeed, Steve Quinn, Brady's father, has been a passionate Notre Dame football fan since he was a young boy.
'Both of my uncles went to school there,' Steve said. 'And so as far back as I can remember, I remember watching the games.'
Steve, who played collegiately at Valley City State, an NAIA school in North Dakota, has been to at least one Notre Dame game every year since he was about 8. When the Fighting Irish beat Penn State in the Orange Bowl in January to clinch a spot in the national championship game, he may or may not have received a couple of noise complaints from other guests at the hotel in which he was staying. His fandom runs deep.
'I'm one of those homers,' he said with a contagious laugh.
When Steve and Lori Quinn were thinking of names for their first son in the mid-2000s, the father-to-be made a pitch for Brady. It was not well received.
'She said, 'No. You can't do that,'' Steve recalls.
They named him Carter instead, and he, too, is a quarterback, in the Class of 2026.
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The next time around, with the couple expecting a second child, Steve tried again. And this time, Lori agreed. If the baby were a boy, fine, he would be Brady Quinn.
'I remember when we got the ultrasound and the nurse looked over to me and she goes, 'Do you want a boy or a girl?' And I went, 'Well, I want another boy, of course,'' Steve said. 'And she looked over at my wife and she's like, 'Do you always give him everything he wants?' That's how she told me we were having a boy. I was like, 'YES! It's gonna be Brady Quinn!''
The other Brady Quinn acknowledged this is a first.
'I've had parts of the name like, obviously, 'Brady' or 'Quinn' or something along those lines,' the former Notre Dame QB said of people naming loved ones after him. 'Sometimes there's been, 'Hey we have a couple dogs, one's name is Brady, one's name is Quinn,' something like that. I think this is the first that I can recall that happens to fit the bill, has the name, but also happens to be a quarterback, and obviously he's getting recruited by Notre Dame, which is pretty cool.'
The younger Brady Quinn has leaned into the fun and laughs right along with people who crack jokes about his name or ask him how he got it. It's neat, he said, to have the same name as someone so highly regarded as Quinn.
When Notre Dame Brady Quinn found out about Florida Brady Quinn from Peter Vaas, the former quarterbacks coach at Notre Dame, he sent him a private message: 'If I can ever be of any help,' it read, 'let me know. God bless.'
Now the younger Brady Quinn is hoping he'll have the chance to play at Notre Dame, too.
'A Notre Dame offer would mean a lot to me,' he said. 'Notre Dame would probably be one of my top schools. Can you really say no to Notre Dame? With everything and the history of that university and stuff like that, it would mean a lot to me.'
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Quinn hopes an offer arrives this summer. Guidugli liked what he saw from Quinn on Monday and told him that Notre Dame plans to turn its attention to 2028 quarterbacks after it decides who to offer in the Class of 2027. Just this week, Quinn picked up offers from Michigan and Indiana, which joined South Carolina, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Pitt and Miami among the Power 4 schools that are pursuing him.
The younger Quinn finished his freshman season at First Baptist Academy with 2,549 passing yards and 33 touchdowns against nine interceptions after taking over the starting role in Week 4.
Notre Dame and Clemson would be his two 'dream' offers, he said.
Meanwhile, Steve has already joked that if Brady ends up at Notre Dame, he's buying a house in town.
The other Brady Quinn is rooting for his namesake.
'Maybe he shatters every record I have,' he said. 'It'd be awesome if that story came full circle.'
(Top photo of Brady Quinn courtesy of Brady Quinn)
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