Archive for the ‘Brady Quinn’ Category

Detroit, Cleveland, Minnesota, and Miami - all teams with obvious quarterback needs - all passed on Brady Quinn already today and with the New York Giants on the clock at #20, Quinn remains undrafted.  No one thought Quinn would fall this far down in the first round, but right now theres a lot of rumors that the Browns are looking to trade back up into the first round to select Quinn.

Cleveland was thought to be a likely destination for Quinn at the 3rd pick before they drafted Joe Thomas, an offensive tackle out of Wisconsin, and would certainly end up with one of the best draft coups in years if they somehow managed to land Thomas AND Quinn.  Both ESPN and NFL Network have reported these rumors and Quinn himself acknowledged he heard something similar during his last interview on ESPN.

Should a trade not occur, there are only a handful of teams remaining in the first round with quarterback needs.  Jacksonville at 21st could be tempted to draft Quinn with Byron Leftwich falling out of favor.  Kansas City at 23rd has just been reported to be seriously interested in Quinn at 23rd by Suzy Kolber of ESPN.  Kolber also reported that Quinn’s agent has received calls from three teams expressing interest in Quinn.

Kansas City would  be a pretty nice destination for Quinn if he falls into their lap.  With a premier running attack led by Larry Johnson, Quinn would have the benefit of playing in a very balanced offense.

Stay tuned as we’ll have plenty more on Quinn’s free fall and subsequent draft selection when it occurs.

Notre Dame held its second Pro Day last Thursday, and despite a strong showing from Brady Quinn, he wasn’t exactly pleased with his showing.

Quinn said afterward he was a little disappointed with his workout Thursday for NFL scouts. He didn’t throw, because he did that during his first pro day on March 4. He said he ran the 40-yard dash at 4.73 and he knows he can do run faster than a 4.7 and his vertical jump was measured at 36 inches and he’s done 38 inches.

“I’m a perfectionist and it’s disappointing when you can’t display your best for people,” he said.

According to NFL.com Quinn’s official stats from the Pro Day…

Quinn weighed in 233 pounds. He ran indoors on FieldTurf. He ran his 40s faster than expected (4.82 and 4.73). He also ran the short shuttle in 4.22 seconds and the three-cone drill in 6.79 (with tiny cones, not tall ones). In addition, he had a 36-inch vertical jump and a 9-foot-7 broad jump.

To put those numbers into perspective, JaMarcus Russell ran a 4.83 and recorded a 34.5 inch vertical at his Pro Day earlier this month. So in review, Quinn is faster and can jump higher than Russell despite most pundits repeated claims that Quinn doesn’t posses the mobility or agility that Russell has.

While doing unrelated research today, I came across this stat regarding NFL MVPs. It’s a stat I have never heard mentioned on any ND message board, any ND publication or broadcast. Since the Associated Press started to announce the NFL’s most valuable players back in 1957, one school has stood atop the NCAA as having delivered the most number of players to be selected as the NFL’s MVP. You guessed it, Notre Dame.

The Irish have sent four players on to become NFL MVPs (Paul Hournung, Alan Page, Joe Theismann, Joe Montana). LSU and Alabama come in second with three, though it has been reported that Alabama claims seven.

This at the very least adds to a little of the intrigue to the Brady Quinn vs. Jamarcus Russell NFL career battle. Charlie Weis has said that in three years, Quinn will be one of the top three QBs in the league, while pundits like Todd McShay seemingly salivate daily over Russell, who rose as the media favorite after his most impressive day as a collegiate quarterback came against a lowly Notre Dame defense.

To anyone who complains about the unfair advantage that Notre Dame receives from the NBC contract, I point out another one of those “unfair advantages” from today’s NFL coach unimpressed with Quinn’s workout article on NBCSports.com. First off, its interesting that this was the only article I could find that was not positive about Quinn’s performance Sunday, but whatever, I’m fine with that. What annoys me is the accompanying video which sounds like a bad political commercial shown during the nightly news in November. Take a look. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like they stopped just short of fading a color picture of Quinn to black and white and ending with a closing line “Do you want Brady Quinn quarterbacking your team?”

For those not interested in the video, here’s an excerpt from the article mentioning what was so unimpressive about Quinn’s performance.

He did not have a great day in terms of accuracy,” the coach said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to not put his team’s plans at risk. “He didn’t have a great day in terms of that. He missed a few throws. I mean, you usually don’t see the ball on the ground that much, but it was hitting the ground. He missed on some wide and really didn’t show great touch.”

Quinn completed 58 of 63 passes and of the five incompletions four were catchable according to Weis (where have we heard that one before?), and an NFL.com article backs that up.

“On two occasions, former Irish receiver Matt Shelton got his hands on passes but couldn’t pull them in. Rhema McKnight couldn’t catch a 35-yard pass or a 20-yard pass he dived for. Quinn also overthrew tailback Darius Walker on a 25-yard pass.”

That does should rather unimpressive… why wasn’t Quinn there to catch the ones that his receivers couldn’t haul in?

Missed yesterday’s post due to a little bit too much poker, but I’m back tonight with a bunch of links on the baseball and basketball teams and some more articles on the upcoming draft.  Sorry about the repeats in dome pics, I received a bunch through email that I just haven’t gotten a chance to post yet.  I’ll get to them this weekend.

• The bball team concludes its season tomorrow against Rutgers on the road.  Here’s a preview of the game I stumbled across.  If the Irish are to make a run in either the BE Tourney or in the Big Dance, this is the kind of game they HAVE to win.
• Speaking of this being a must win, here’s an article about Brey keeping his team focused.
• Tomorrow’s game in Jersey is a sellout despite Rutgers having a pretty terrible year in basketball this year.
• And as if we didn’t know this already, the Irish are a lock for the Tourney.
• The baseball team will play a double header on Sunday after Saturday’s game was scratched.
• Nice article from Eric Hansen on the coaches for the Notre Dame Spring Game.
• Just how fast will Jeff Samardzija be pitching in Wrigley Field?  Sooner than you make think according to this mlb.com article.
• Good post from HerLoyalSons about why Notre Dame’s linemen don’t seem to be too strong (at least based on their lifting numbers at last weekends combine).
• This guy thinks the Raiders should avoid drafting a quarterback.  And you know what?  I agree with him.  That team, in its current state, has quarterback killer written all over it.
• Just another article with some quotes showing Quinn knows how to say all the right things and that he’s got his head screwed on straight.

Today’s edition of Spanning the Dome features what is becoming a common mix - little bit of Brady Quinn draft news, little bit of news on the other Notre Dame players in the draft, and a couple basketball links.  By the way, what am I going to link to at this time next year without Notre Dame having one prospects in the draft?

• I haven’t given much love to Victor Abiamiri’s draft status in these posts, so let’s start off with a post from the Patriots website which mentions him as a potential outside linebacker in their 3-4 defense.
• Michael Rothstein has a good article up about Rhema McKnight’s path to the NFL.  If Rhema can turn in a good 40 time at the Notre Dame pro day, I think he can move into the third round.
• Another post from a Dolphins blog on Brady Quinn.  It seems like Miami fans are really warming up to the idea of Quinn and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Dolphins trade up for him.
• Meanwhile, this guy thinks that neither Russell or Quinn should go first and his arguments are pretty good - both Calvin Johnson and Adrian Peterson are sick athletes.
• Seriously, this is the last draft link for today - Jason Kelly weighs on Quinn and the draft.  On a side note, how nice is it to have Jason Kelly and Eric Hansen at the SBT after having say… David Haugh a few years back?
• Remember when Notre Dame ended the season in the NIT?  The Irish won’t be there this year, but the SBT talks to Russell Carter and Collin Falls about ND’s recent NIT trips.
• The observer has a good article on the basketball team’s regular season finale against Rutgers and how much it can mean for their chances in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments.
• Another good article from the Observer about adding some size and muscle to the offensive and defensive lines.

Earlier tonight I linked to the latest blog entry for Brady Quinn on his XBOX Community Blog. If read it carefully, you will find the following passage…

“Having Coach Weiss here at Notre Dame helps me out with the interview process. For those of you who aren’t familiar with him, he used to coach with the New England Patriots and has been able to prep me for my time with the NFL teams.”

Someone should tell Quinn’s PR person writing these Brady that there is only one “s” at the end of Weis. Now, I’m the last person in the world to offer out spelling and grammar tips (God knows I have enough of them in my own writing), but I find it just a tad funny that Charlie’s name is spelled wrong here.

Other than that, it’s a pretty good post with some information and pictures of his training out in Arizona.

All stats are courtesy of FFLiveWire. They have the numbers for every athlete that participated in the combine.

Brady Quinn - 6′ 3 3/4″, 232 lbs
Quinn made some headlines for not participating in the throwing or running drills, but he may have done just enough to help stop some of the negative momentum he’s experienced since the Sugar Bowl. Quinn weighed in at 232 pounds and measured in at just under 6′4″ and was one of the more impressive looking athletes at the combine. Quinn also did 24 reps of 225 pounds which was more than a number of offensive and defensive linemen. Quinn may have been helped more by JaMarcus Russell’s appearance than anything else this past weekend. Russell was said to show up out of shape and not look nearly as in shape as Quinn which has raised questions about his motivation.

Darius Walker - 5″10′, 208
Of all of the Notre Dame prospects at the combine, Walker probably had the most to prove. Many people feel he should have returned for his senior. The major knock on Walker since he became the full-time starter was his lack of speed and his 4.56 40 yard dash time did very little to change many people’s minds. Walker did, however, turn in the 3rd best vertical jump of any athlete who participated which could help him. Still, Walker is probably still a late first day pick at best, unless he can impress at the Notre Dame pro day. If he can show some better hands than he displayed at the skills competition on ESPN a few weeks ago he could improve his stock some more. On ESPN he looked uncomfortable and almost unnatural handling passes from Troy Smith and the jugs machine.

Rhema McKnight - 6′1″, 211
McKnight didn’t run the 40 at the combine most likely because his 40 time is probably not going to turn many heads. McKnight is more quick than he is fast. His 4.16 20 yard shuttle time put him well into the top 1/2 of those who ran and his 11.28 60 yard shuttle was the fastest of the wide receivers - including being faster than Robert Meachem’s time of 11.3. Its tough to project where McKnight will go without an official 40 time beings as most scouts love to judge receivers on their 40 time.

Dan Santucci - 6′4″, 296
Santucci’s 23 repetitions won’t do much to improve his stock as an interior offensive lineman, but he showed good agility with a 3 cone time of 7.47 - tied for 3rd best among the offensive linemen. His 29″ vertical leap was, however, second worst among the offensive linemen.

Ryan Harris - 6′4″, 299
Harris ran a 5.09 40 time which was one of the better times for offensive linemen, but he only managed 22 reps of 225 which put him near the bottom amongst offensive linemen in that category. Harris was impressive in his interviews and gained some points in that regard. He was one of only seven OL to run the 20 yard shuttle and his time was 4.52. Harris may have gone from potential first round pick to mid to late second round pick with the 22 reps. His good agility numbers, however, should help offset his low strength numbers somewhat.

Victor Abiamiri - 6′4″, 267
Abiamiri’s 40 time of 4.8 surprised me - I thought he would run much better than that. His 4.8 was fairly averaged compared to the other defensive ends who participated - as was his 25 reps of 225. I really thought Abiamiri would be a workout marvel at the combine because of his athletic ability, but his numbers weren’t all that impressive. He’ll need a better showing at the pro day to get back into the early stages of the first day.

Derek Landri - 6′2″, 288
The only numbers listed for Landri were his 24 repetitions, which again isn’t going to turn many heads for a defensive tackle. Landri’s quickness has always been his forte so its a bit surprising he didn’t participate in some of the speed and agility drills. His weight of 288 is a bit surprising as well considering he spent most of his time at Notre Dame much smaller than that. I think Landri could be a very good special teams player early on in his career in the NFL because of his quickness off the line and work ethic.

Chinedum N’Dukwe - 6′1″, 206
Nedu ran a 4.51 40 time which is about the range I figured he’d run and maybe even a little faster. I’ve never really thought of N’Dukwe as a speed guy, but a 4.51 40 time is pretty good for a safety - not great, but pretty good. His 15 reps put him in the bottom half of the defensive backs and that stat did surprise me some.

After a brief hiatus, Spanning the Dome returns.  Sorry for the lack if updates the past couple of days, I’ll try to keep the Spanning the Dome posts a little more frequently, especially on weekdays moving forward.

• Here’s a nice article on the myth of Quinn dropping in the draft from Eric Hansen.  Some good points made by Hansen about Quinn’s big game performance and how the combine has only added to the rumors of Quinn failing down the draft board - another great article from Hansen.
• While I’m on the topic of Quinn and the draft… here’s a decent article from SI.com about JaMarcus Russell and Quinn battling for the top spot in the draft.  I’ll have a post a bit later on how the combine hurt Russell’s stock some.
• And here is Brady’s latest blog entry from his XBOX community blog (hopefully more on this later)
• Despite a weekend split with Ferris State, the hockey team remained #1 in the polls for the 4th straight week. St. Cloud State, who recruiting fans will remember as a player for John Carlson a few years back, nearly passed the Irish.
• Here’s a photo gallery of this past week’s ND baseball games.
• Great post from Mike at BGS about the coaching class of 2004.  Weis, Urban Meyer, and Spurrier were the headliners and this post gives a good look at how each has faired.
• Will ND run the ball more?  That is the question posed by the latest Rock Report.

Just when I thought the Quinn dropping crap couldn’t get any dumber, ProFootballTalk.com delivered this little nugget on Monday.

“One of the darlings of the scouting combine is Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton. Word is that several teams now consider Stanton to be ahead of Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, due in large part to great interviews with teams in Indy, and strong overall intangibles.

While no one doubts that Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has prepared Quinn to play quarterback in a pro-style offense, there are questions about whether he possesses the leadership abilities to be successful in the NFL.

As we’ve previously heard, there also are questions about Quinn’s ability to perform on a big stage, and some concerns about whether he wants to be a Hollywood type or whether he is committed to being the best football player he can be. Similar questions knocked Matt Leinart down to the tenth overall spot in the 2006 draft.

So don’t be surprised if Stanton gets drafted after JaMarcus Russell of LSU, and prior to Quinn.”

Please tell me what big games Stanton won while at Michigan State? If you want to talk about coming up short in big games, how about the choke fest Stanton performed against Notre Dame this year? One my main arguments in support of Quinn’s short comings in big games has been that there has been plenty of blame to pass around in Notre Dame’s loss. Well in Stanton’s case, it can easily be argued that HE was THE reason Michigan State lost to Notre Dame this year. Two interceptions (one returned for a touchdown) and lost fumble… and that was just in the final eight minutes of the game!

As for PFT’s other comment on Quinn about whether or not Quinn wants to be “Hollywood”, are they serious? Was there a single other athlete that this weekend’s combine in better shape than Quinn? All he has done since graduating early with his double major has been work out and prepare for the draft. There aren’t any pictures of him floating around the internet with drunken girls draped over him like there was with Leinart last year. Question Quinn’s big game performances all you want, but don’t question his work ethic - he’s put in more time in the weight and film rooms than almost every other college football player this past year.