Notre Dame football: 5 great players who didn’t live up to the NFL hype

Notre Dame football NFL busts: Brady Quinn

Make no mistake, Brady Quinn had a big impact every year that he put on the golden dome for Notre Dame football. He was the starting quarterback in his freshman and sophomore seasons with the Fighting Irish. However, it’s hard not to notice the effect that the hiring of Charlie Weis had on his career after Tyrone Willingham was at the helm for the start of the quarterback’s career.

Not only did the Fighting Irish go just 11-13 under Willingham in Quinn’s first two seasons in South Bend but also on Quinn’s effectiveness and performance. As a freshman, Quinn completed just 47.3 percent of his passes for 1,831 yards, nine touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He improved as a sophomore but still had only 2,586 yards with 17 touchdowns and 10 interceptions with a 54.1 percent completion rate.

It was under Weis when Quinn became a Notre Dame legend, though. The team went 19-6 in those two seasons as the quarterback also threw for over 7,000 yards with 69 touchdowns and 14 interceptions and completing north of 63 percent of his throws. He rewrote the record book for the Irish, setting 36 total records, 10 for his career production.

After that career, many expected Quinn to be a top-five pick int eh 2007 NFL Draft. However, he fell to No. 22 before the Cleveland Browns nabbed him. Unfortunately, he never found the same success. He played in just 24 games over six NFL season, going 4-16 as a starter with only 12 touchdowns to 17 interceptions before he was out of the league.

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