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Still Cheering for the bills, but he is the next big time QB in this league. ....
Updated: Aug. 16, 2006, 7:41 PM ET
Quinn flying high because Weis keeps him grounded
By Eric Adelson
ESPN The Magazine
Edited: Copyright law prohibits us from displaying full articles. - Mr. Miyagi
Updated: Aug. 16, 2006, 7:41 PM ET
Quinn flying high because Weis keeps him grounded
By Eric Adelson
ESPN The Magazine
Here it comes. Get ready. This won't be pleasant. On the first day of practice at Notre Dame, Charlie Weis looks ornery. He's got some serious venom holstered -- built it up all summer -- and he's stumping all over the field like a mule itching to kick.  Elsa/Getty Images When coach Charlie Weis talks, quarterback Brady Quinn listens. An Irish supporter dares to ask him how he's doing. "Oh, I'm just chipper," Weis growls and walks away. He spies his freshmen. They are too nervous to crush -- today. So he caroms around the field as if he were in a blindfold, looking for somewhere to vent. He comes upon a blocking drill. Perfect. "What is this, powder-puff football?!" he barks. "Do I have to get within five feet to hear a player hit a sled?" But Weis has saved his nastiest stuff for senior quarterback Brady Quinn. And Quinn -- the pristine matinee idol with the Heisman stats and the draft-ready arm -- knows what's coming. It's going to be blunt. Harsh. Unprintable. And by now, routine. They don't seem anything alike, the thoroughbred and the mule. One is self-contained and quiet and from the heartland, and the other is arrogant and loud and from Jersey. One is "too good to be true," just ask his gorgeous high school sweetheart. The other is too mean to be named Charlie, just ask the latest object of his invective. One is nothing but questions: When Weis first arrived in South Bend, Quinn couldn't wait to quiz him on all the Pats film he had decided to watch. That's okay, because the other one has all the answers -- and he's the first to remind you of that fact. But it works. With kick after kick, the mule has pounded his thoroughbred into the best passer in Notre Dame history. Impact is made in all sorts of ways. There's the slam of pads and the shift of the pile. There's the swell of adrenaline when the dull roar in the tunnel explodes into the thunder of the open stadium. But sometimes impact can be much more subtle. Even when a screaming coach collides with a meteoric talent, it can come not with a bang but in a whisper. With Heisman hype and Leinart looks, Brady Quinn is no cookie-cutter quarterback. And that's because Robin Quinn is no cookie-baking mom. When Robin met Charlie Weis two winters ago, the coach asked her if she had any questions. She didn't reply with a docile "No, Coach." She leaned in, looked Weis straight in the eye and asked, "What are you going to do with my son?" |
Edited: Copyright law prohibits us from displaying full articles. - Mr. Miyagi
Nobody is anything in the NFL until they prove it. Period.
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