(This article appeared in the 12-5-02 issue of Irish Today.)

Rumors have been swirling all week around Irish QB commitment Brady Quinn. Could he be having second thoughts? Is he considering the in-state Buckeyes over the Irish?

Quinn is the first signal caller handpicked by Tyrone Willingham to run his offense. If the rumors are true, then it would be devastating to this recruiting class, especially considering that the Irish backed off recruiting Richard Kovalcheck and Chris Leak because they like Quinn so much.

I talked with Brady to get to the bottom of the rumors and separate the fact from the fiction.

First off, is Brady still going to the banquet tomorrow night?

"I'm not going to be going this weekend," Quinn said.

But don't worry Irish fans, there is a good reason behind it.

"My quarterback coach is getting married, so I'm going up the 13th, 14th and 15th (of December)," Quinn said.  "From what I understand, it should be a big recruiting weekend too."

What has Quinn been doing since the season ended? 

"Just lifting, running and some throwing; I'm throwing with Nedu when I can," Quinn said, referring to Irish commitment and teammate Chinedum Ndukwe. "I also throw with a guy who plays in the CFL and is trying to get into the NFL, so we're getting some good work in."

He and his family are also having Irish offensive coordinator Bill Diedrick over for dinner tonight, so there is still plenty of football on Quinn's plate, even though his prep season has ended.

So, any truth to the rumors about Ohio State?

"Coach Denbrock just called to ask me the same thing," Quinn said. "No, there is no truth to it."

Quinn does think he knows how the hub-bub got started.

"It came from that crap on the message boards," Quinn said, referring to Internet sites with message board posts. "This guy (from one of the internet boards) called on Sunday night. He asked if I was going to Ohio State for anything. I told him that I had been named to an Ohio All-Star team, it's like a class one through six All-American thing. I told him we were going up there for a picture, that's all."

And that's when it started. By the start of the week, rumors of Quinn de-committing and visiting Ohio State were popping up.

"On Tuesday, I start hearing all this crap about me and OSU," Quinn said. "I'm pretty sure that's how it all got started."

Will he make a visit to Ohio State?

"I'm not taking an official there," Quinn said. "I'm not looking at them or anyone else. They invited me to the Ohio State-Michigan game, I went to Notre Dame-Rutgers."

Are there any circumstances under which his commitment to Notre Dame wouldn't hold?

"No, not at all," Quinn said. "I verballed because Notre Dame is the place for me to be."

As we've seen before, many of these silly rumors are based on nothing but Internet speculation. David Marrero had to answer the same questions after rumors started that he might attend Stanford instead of the Irish. In both cases, it ended up being nothing but smoke.

Now, Quinn is focused on his trip to South Bend the weekend of December 14th and preparing for the US Army All-American game on January 5th. That keeps him busy enough, without the silly rumors from the Internet.