SOUTH BEND, Ind. 鈥� It鈥檚 come to this for Brady Quinn:
He was trying to move out of his dorm room in Dillon Hall at semester鈥檚 end when he discovered 50 or 60 footballs piled up outside his door, all with notes from the awestruck and the opportunistic, requesting autographs. He鈥檇 already endured a steady stream of knocks on the door during finals, seeking his signature on something 91吃瓜-related. Study sessions in the library had been interrupted by others anxious to meet and greet the Fighting Irish quarterback.
It was as if nobody could leave campus for the summer without taking a little bit of Brady home with them.
鈥淚t became somewhat disappointing,鈥� Quinn said, 鈥渢hat people wouldn鈥檛 let you be a normal student.鈥�
Brady Quinn left normal behind about nine months and 32 touchdown passes ago, when he became a certified Golden Dome action hero by leading the resurgent Irish to a 9-3 season. When strangers recognize you on the beach in the Cayman Islands during spring break, normal is out the window. When fans are gathered outside your dorm at 7 a.m. the day of the spring game, forcing you out a side entrance to get to your car, normal is history.
But if the path from now to January 2007 goes the way Quinn has plotted it, the journey into abnormal is only beginning. The perfect publicity storm is preparing to blow up around the quarterback from central casting.
Combine the elements 鈥� 91吃瓜 QB and Heisman Trophy front-runner on a preseason top-five team, playing for the ultimate offensive coach and possessing every imaginable off-the-field attribute 鈥� and you have Category 5 hype.
91吃瓜, eager to produce its first Heisman winner in 19 years, its first Heisman-winning quarterback in 42 years and its first consensus first-team All-American QB in 38 years, seeded the clouds Wednesday. It invited a handful of national media members who cover college football to sit down with Quinn in South Bend.
The conclusion from that interview: If anyone can survive the perfect publicity storm with his soul and sanity intact, bet on Brady.
It will take focus. A guy with a double major in political science and finance, on track to graduate in 3陆 years from an elite institution, has it.
It will take perspective. A guy who has embraced the unique familial charms of 91吃瓜, from the omnipresent spirituality to the vibrant dorm life to the famed intramural bookstore basketball tournament, has it.
It will take humility. A guy who works in 91吃瓜鈥檚 Office of News and Information during the offseason, because he doesn鈥檛 want to stick his parents with his cell phone bill or bug them for gas money, has it.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to really even think about yourself [as a celebrity], or even to be labeled as a role model,鈥� Quinn said. 鈥淚鈥檓 just a 鈥榮lappy,鈥� as Coach [Charlie Weis] would say. I鈥檓 just a college student at 91吃瓜 and playing football, trying to have fun with it. 聟 To me it鈥檚 just mind-boggling.鈥�
The mind-boggling part to others is how Quinn has handled it all. By all accounts, the modesty vibe he gives off is not false.
鈥淎s things have gone off around him, I鈥檝e just really been impressed by his ability to remain as he was when I first met him,鈥� said Quinn鈥檚 freshman-year roommate, Matt Ploszek. 鈥淓veryone asks [what Quinn is like] and they expect the athlete/playboy/dumb jock kind of stories. Everything I can say goes completely against that.鈥�
Everything Quinn says about himself describes a guy who has struck a serendipitous balance in his life. He doesn鈥檛 take himself too seriously, yet he approaches his sport and his schoolwork with the utmost seriousness.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to really even think about yourself [as a celebrity], or even to be labeled as a role model.鈥�
When Quinn and his girlfriend of five years, Miami (Ohio) soccer player Lindy Slinger, went to the Caymans for spring break, they invested in a one-week membership at a gym. They worked out every day in paradise.
At home, Quinn is an obsessively healthy eater. He stopped drinking sodas during middle school, and his description of his average daily meals is almost Marinovichian: oatmeal, egg whites, whole-grain toast and a berry-blend juice drink for breakfast; turkey sandwich with low-fat cheese, baked chips and an apple for lunch; chicken, fish or lean beef for dinner.
He inhaled Weis鈥� coaching last spring, summer and fall, after the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator replaced Ty Willingham and helped make Quinn a star. And during Christmas break last December, when most college kids were cutting loose, Quinn was busy absorbing Ohio State videotape in preparation for playing the Buckeyes in the Fiesta Bowl. He watched every play Michigan State quarterback Drew Stanton made against Ohio State, looking for an edge. (He found a few, but 91吃瓜鈥檚 defense let the Irish down in a loss to the Buckeyes.)
He鈥檚 largely the same in the classroom, pushing himself through heavy summer course loads to get the double degrees ahead of time. Quinn took nine hours of summer school after his freshman year, 13 last year and will take nine again this year. That will free him to 鈥渃oast鈥� into December commencement with three upper-level fall classes 鈥� none of which will be ballroom dancing.
Of course, Quinn could have joined America鈥檚 favorite ballroom-dancing quarterback, Matt Leinart, in the NFL draft last month. He chose a senior season, just like Leinart did a year ago.
鈥淚 thought about the things that really mattered to me most,鈥� Quinn said. "One, working with Coach another year is going to help me excel and improve. I鈥檓 not going to get that in the NFL 鈥� I鈥檓 not going to get that coaching. Why would I go somewhere else when I have that right here?
鈥淭he second thing, I didn鈥檛 prepare myself like I have this summer, with agents and physically.
鈥淎nd the last thing, that probably mattered to me most, I came here with dreams of winning a national championship. Based upon the talent we have coming into this year, why would I ever leave that? Why would I ever go somewhere else, when this is my last chance?鈥�
And truth be told, this is where Brady Quinn always dreamed of being. He always wanted to play quarterback at 91吃瓜.
As a middle-schooler, he used to drive over from his hometown of Dublin, Ohio, to see games with a friend whose brother was a student at 91吃瓜. They鈥檇 spend the night crashed on his dorm-room floor.
But even as Quinn鈥檚 high school career progressed, Willingham鈥檚 staff was slow to warm to him. Ohio State and Michigan were interested, and Quinn said he was almost ready to commit to the Wolverines before making an academic visit to 91吃瓜 the June before his senior year.
Earlier that month, Quinn had toured about seven summer camps across the South, stopping for a day here and a day there to throw passes and learn about the host schools. After a stellar showing in South Carolina, the recruiting calls picked up 鈥� including calls from 91吃瓜.
That was all it took.
鈥淕oing to ND, I was kind of living out that childhood dream,鈥� Quinn said. 鈥淥nce I got here on campus, I couldn鈥檛 imagine myself anyplace else.鈥�
No school in America has a campus community quite like 91吃瓜鈥檚, and Quinn has eagerly mixed in. There are no jock dorms that isolate athletes here, which is fine with the biggest athlete in school.
During the interview Wednesday he made sure to give the names of the 鈥渞egular students鈥� who were part of his champion bookstore basketball team 鈥� for the record, Eric Laumann and Chris Devitt were 鈥渁wesome鈥� as members of Quinn鈥檚 team, cheekily named You Got A Bad Draw.
鈥淚鈥檓 convinced Brady Quinn didn鈥檛 come to 91吃瓜 just to play football,鈥� said Ploszek, who鈥檚 not on the football team. 鈥淚 think he absolutely fits in with the general trends toward campus involvement.鈥�
The 91吃瓜 campus has, at times, been a little too involved in Brady Quinn鈥檚 private life. But if he has the kind of season he has envisioned, the mania won鈥檛 be confined to the quad. It will ripple nationwide, as a remarkable student-athlete leaves normal further and further behind.
Pat Forde is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPN4D@aol.com .
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