Second-year starter Quinn developing into passing threat

Coming off one of his biggest wins in college, Irish quarterback Brady Quinn will turn to face… Coming off one of his biggest wins in college, Irish quarterback Brady Quinn will turn to face a disappointing 5-3 Panther football team that lost last week in double overtime to Syracuse.

The sophomore out of Dublin, Ohio started in nine of Notre Dame’s 12 games last season, in place of Carlyle Holiday. Quinn struggled, as many freshmen do, and threw only nine touchdowns and 15 interceptions. In Notre Dame’s 20-14 win against Pitt last year, he threw for only 33 yards and a pick.

Now, he has a season of experience and he understands his coach’s offense, with the help of now-backup quarterback Holiday.

“The information that Carlyle had from his previous starts of being a quarterback, the things he had seen, he tried to pass on to Brady to make Brady’s transition as smooth as possible,” head coach Tyrone Willingham said in his press conference on Tuesday.

The transition can be seen on the field this year, as well.

Quinn has thrown for 2,008 yards this season and, with two games left in the regular season, he has a chance to be No. 1 on Notre Dame’s single-season passing list. Right now, he needs two yards to pass Joe Montana, who is sixth on the list, and 746 yards to claim the No. 1 slot over Jarious Jackson. Jackson set the record in 1999 with 2,753 yards passing.

Quinn has also thrown for 11 touchdowns this season, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Anthony Fasano in last week’s 17-13 upset win against Tennessee.

“He’s a formidable quarterback to face,” head coach Walt Harris said Monday. “We recruited Brady. He’s good friends with [quarterbacks] coach [Byran] Deal, who coached in Dublin. We couldn’t quite get him. I think that’s because of who we had on our roster.”

According to Harris, Quinn is a very tough quarterback who stands in the pocket extremely well. He’s got a good arm and is very accurate with his throws. His completion percentage so far this season is at 53.5, and he has only thrown seven interceptions.

Quinn believes the Notre Dame offense will move against the Panthers’ defense.

“So far, I think they give us a look a little more similar to the game two years ago,” Quinn said Tuesday. “We’re looking to keep things rolling off of the momentum we got from [the Tennessee] game. And we want to keep working on getting this offense as good as it can be.”