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Best Notre Dame football players: Modern-era Mount Rushmore

By Cody Williams

SOUTH BEND, IN - CIRCA 1986: Tim Brown #81 of Notre Dame Fighting Irish runs with the ball during an NCAA Football game circa 1986 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
SOUTH BEND, IN - CIRCA 1986: Tim Brown #81 of Notre Dame Fighting Irish runs with the ball during an NCAA Football game circa 1986 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /
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Best Notre Dame football players
Notre Dame football (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

Arriving in South Bend under Tyrone Willingham, Brady Quinn took the field early under center but, in all truth, did not have that much fun as the Notre Dame football starting quarterback early in his college career. Having said that, the Fighting Irish signal-caller did show some promise right from the jump.

Quinn only completed 47.3 percent of his throws as a freshman for 1,831 yards, nine touchdowns and 15 interceptions. However, he improved notably the next season, hitting on 54.1 percent of his throws for 2,586 yards, 17 touchdowns and 10 picks. But after another bad year from the team under Willingham, a change was made at head coach. In came Charlie Weis, who unlocked the greatness in Quinn.

As a junior, Quinn looked like a new player as he threw for 3,919 yards, 32 touchdowns and seven interceptions with a 64.9 percent completion rate. He finished fourth in the Heisman voting for his efforts. The following year, he came out and was just as good, throwing for 3,426 yards, 37 scores and seven picks, this time coming in at No. 3 in the Heisman race. Oh yeah, Notre Dame also finished as a top-20 team in both years after going 5-7 and 6-6 the previous two years.

Far and away, Quinn is the career-leader in Notre Dame football history when it comes to passing and total offense. His 11,762 yards his tops in the record books and his 3,919 yards in 2005 is also a school record. Moreover, his 95 career passing touchdowns is also the Irish record — 34 ahead of second on the list. Not passer has ever been as prolific as Quinn in program history.