Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando
An obvious question about Tom Brady: How could he go from part-time starter at Michigan to one of the all-time greats? Brady addressed the subject in some depth at the Patriots' media session this morning.
Three issues might have played leading roles: One, the people who recruited him to Michigan and therefore had the most invested in him left the coaching staff early in his career there; two, the traits that make a great college quarterback don't always line up with those that make great NFL quarterbacks; and three, Brady has improved a great deal since his time in college.
Here is the full text of Brady's answer:
"My first few years, I was just trying to get on the field however I could. After we won the national championship in '97 with Brian (Griese) as the quarterback, I competed pretty hard with Brian that year to be the starter and he beat me out in training camp. We went on to be 12-0. Going into that next season, that was when Drew (Henson) came in and Drew was an incredible player and an incredible athlete. He was from Brighton (Mich.) and he was recruited heavily by coach (Lloyd) Carr. When I went there, I was recruited by coach (Gary) Moeller and the guy who recruited me, Bill Harris, left the year that I got there to go to Stanford.
"And the following year, the quarterback coach who recruited me, Jim Cartwright, left. And so, really, my second year, there was really nobody who had really known me or sat in my living room and said, 'Tom, we really want you at Michigan.'
"Not that I didn't feel wanted because I certainly did. Coach Carr always looked me in eye and said, 'Tom, this is the place for you and if you want to be the starting quarterback here, quit worrying about what everyone else thinks and try to compete as hard as you can.' Those were great lessons for me.
"In my fourth year, Drew had come in and he was competing and a great player. I'm surprised he is not playing today. And we did pretty good when I was there my last couple years, 10-3 and 10-2, finished fifth in the country one year. There was a lot of teams that didn't choose me coming out and I really feel that I have improved a lot as a player as well and had great coaching, I've had a great system around me and maybe some of the attributes that it takes to be a great professional quarterback aren't really the same things that require a college quarterback to be a great player.
"I feel some of my strengths are my awareness, my decision making. I've never been a great athlete and those tend to be some of the great players in college because when you are playing against linebackers who run 4.9 in college and you run 4.7 in college, you can outrun those linebackers. In the pros, those guys are running 4.5s. so if you run a 4.7 and you are a slow guy, you have to focus on the abilities that there are a lot of ways to be a great quarterback. You can throw it, you can run it, decisions, accuracy, arm strength. I've tried to imrpove with the coaching I have had and take that coaching so I can continue to find ways to improve your game.
"I never think it's personal. Coach Carr was truly doing what he thought was best for the team and he was right in his perspective. Sometimes I disagreed with it, but I would never change a day in my life, especially the lessons I learned there because those have really suited me well on the professional level.
"You have to learn to compete and you have to learn to compete on the practice field because you can't just all of a sudd get to the game and say, 'Oh, it's game day and now all of a sudden I'm going to be a better player.' In college, we would run two-minute drills against our defense and I wasn't sure if I didn't score on that two-minute drive if I would start the game on Saturday. Talk about pressure. I was feeling pressure Thursday afternoon at practice to get our starting off into the end zone against our defense. Now you get into the games and you run into those situations, you're already playing so now you're having a great time out there. I try to continue that into this level now where those practices are extremely important to what we do and how well we are prepared and confident as a team going into a game."
That's about as honest and direct an answer as we could have hoped Brady to deliver. As for his early days with New England, Brady got some laughs with this description: "I was the fourth-string quarterback and eating nachos before the game."
