The 30 best college football quarterbacks of the 21st century

• Maxwell Award (2006), Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (2006), Sammy Baugh Trophy (2005)

If you just looked at the first two seasons with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish for Brady Quinn, you would probably assume that he never amounted to one of the best college football quarterbacks. Under the watch of head coach Tyrone Willingham in 2003 and most of 2004, Quinn and the Fighting Irish ultimately struggled.

In 12 games as a freshman, as Notre Dame went just 5-7 on the year, Quinn completed a paltry 47.3 percent of his throws for just 1,831 yards, nine touchdowns and only 15 interceptions. As a sophomore when the Irish went 6-5 under Willingham (0-1 under interim coach Kent Baer), Quinn improved marginally to a 54.1 percent completion rate, 2,586 yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Charlie Weis then took over in 2005 and Quinn’s career turned around completely. En route to a 9-2 regular season and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl (a 34-20 loss to Ohio State), Quinn exploded as he threw for 3,919 yards with a 64.9 percent completion rate while tossing 32 touchdowns and seven interceptions, earning the Sammy Baugh Trophy and finishing fourth in the Heisman voting for his work.

While the yardage took a dip in 2006 to 3,426 yards for Quinn, Notre Dame continued to be successful under his watch, earning a Sugar Bowl berth (another loss, this time to LSU). Furthermore, the quarterback increased his scoring output to 37 touchdowns while again throwing just seven interceptions.

Quinn finished third in the Heisman voting for the 2006 season and, though he didn’t earn a large amount of hardware, he revitalized Notre Dame for a bit under Weis and truly put himself on the map as an unforgettable presence in the college game.