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Quinn targets final goal: Be the No. 1 pick
TEMPE, Ariz. — Brady Quinn arrives at the NFL scouting combine that starts Wednesday in Indianapolis with a chip on his shoulder.
Before his senior season at Notre Dame, the 6-4, 233-pound quarterback set three goals for himself: win a national championship, win the Heisman Trophy and go No. 1 in the April draft.
"Obviously," Quinn said, "two of the three didn't work out. And that's why I feel so driven, so motivated to be the No. 1 pick. It makes me work harder and harder to be that guy."
The Irish finished with losses to Southern California and then LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Quinn, the preseason Heisman favorite, was third in voting behind Troy Smith of Ohio State and Darren McFadden of Arkansas. But he said he doesn't consider his final season a failure.
"At the same time, I feel as if I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder coming into the NFL because I didn't do the things I set out for myself," Quinn said.
PREVIEW: More on the NFL scouting combine
He is leaving nothing to chance in his bid to reach his third goal. Quinn spent five weeks here at Athletes' Performance Institute, an intensive training facility popular among elite athletes. He reduced his body fat from 6% to 4.9% with a five-day-a-week program that included a nutritionist, a quarterback coach, a boxing trainer and even computer flexibility drills that improved the small muscles in his eyes so he could see the field better.
Quinn left last Friday and returned to South Bend, Ind., where his college coach, Charlie Weis, prepped him Sunday on the impending interview sessions with NFL personnel at the combine.
Tom Brady, Pro Bowl quarterback of the New England Patriots, has even given Quinn advice.
"He told me, 'Be yourself. Don't allow your success, what people tell you, to shift who you are,' " Quinn said. "I definitely feel ready. I feel comfortable."
Quinn is arguably the most prepared quarterback in the draft, given his four years as a starter in the big-game, pressure-packed spotlight at Notre Dame. He had two years of tutelage under Weis, the former offensive coordinator at New England who helped transform Brady into a Super Bowl champion.
"I'm in the best position of any college quarterback," Quinn said.
Smart, with a strong arm, leadership qualities and driven personality, Quinn is expected to be a top-three pick and could be the first quarterback chosen even though he fared poorly opposite LSU's JaMarcus Russell in the Sugar Bowl.
Scott Wright of the website NFL Draft Countdown said Quinn is a "potential franchise quarterback in the mold of (Cincinnati's) Carson Palmer."
The Oakland Raiders, who won two games in 2006, and the Detroit Lions, winners of three, have the first two picks. The Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will pick third and fourth, the order of which will be settled by a coin flip.
Quinn, from Dublin, Ohio, says he's partial to the Browns because of his roots.
"But that's where it ends," he said. "My goal is to put myself, after the combine, in a position where I'm at the top, and every team is like, 'That kid is so valuable, maybe — if we don't need him — we still have to take him.'
"I want to be the No. 1 pick. As far as playing for a certain team, I don't want to say it doesn't matter a lot, but that's my goal."
TEMPE, Ariz. — Brady Quinn arrives at the NFL scouting combine that starts Wednesday in Indianapolis with a chip on his shoulder.
Before his senior season at Notre Dame, the 6-4, 233-pound quarterback set three goals for himself: win a national championship, win the Heisman Trophy and go No. 1 in the April draft.
"Obviously," Quinn said, "two of the three didn't work out. And that's why I feel so driven, so motivated to be the No. 1 pick. It makes me work harder and harder to be that guy."
The Irish finished with losses to Southern California and then LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Quinn, the preseason Heisman favorite, was third in voting behind Troy Smith of Ohio State and Darren McFadden of Arkansas. But he said he doesn't consider his final season a failure.
"At the same time, I feel as if I have a little bit of a chip on my shoulder coming into the NFL because I didn't do the things I set out for myself," Quinn said.
PREVIEW: More on the NFL scouting combine
He is leaving nothing to chance in his bid to reach his third goal. Quinn spent five weeks here at Athletes' Performance Institute, an intensive training facility popular among elite athletes. He reduced his body fat from 6% to 4.9% with a five-day-a-week program that included a nutritionist, a quarterback coach, a boxing trainer and even computer flexibility drills that improved the small muscles in his eyes so he could see the field better.
Quinn left last Friday and returned to South Bend, Ind., where his college coach, Charlie Weis, prepped him Sunday on the impending interview sessions with NFL personnel at the combine.
Tom Brady, Pro Bowl quarterback of the New England Patriots, has even given Quinn advice.
"He told me, 'Be yourself. Don't allow your success, what people tell you, to shift who you are,' " Quinn said. "I definitely feel ready. I feel comfortable."
Quinn is arguably the most prepared quarterback in the draft, given his four years as a starter in the big-game, pressure-packed spotlight at Notre Dame. He had two years of tutelage under Weis, the former offensive coordinator at New England who helped transform Brady into a Super Bowl champion.
"I'm in the best position of any college quarterback," Quinn said.
Smart, with a strong arm, leadership qualities and driven personality, Quinn is expected to be a top-three pick and could be the first quarterback chosen even though he fared poorly opposite LSU's JaMarcus Russell in the Sugar Bowl.
Scott Wright of the website NFL Draft Countdown said Quinn is a "potential franchise quarterback in the mold of (Cincinnati's) Carson Palmer."
The Oakland Raiders, who won two games in 2006, and the Detroit Lions, winners of three, have the first two picks. The Cleveland Browns and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will pick third and fourth, the order of which will be settled by a coin flip.
Quinn, from Dublin, Ohio, says he's partial to the Browns because of his roots.
"But that's where it ends," he said. "My goal is to put myself, after the combine, in a position where I'm at the top, and every team is like, 'That kid is so valuable, maybe — if we don't need him — we still have to take him.'
"I want to be the No. 1 pick. As far as playing for a certain team, I don't want to say it doesn't matter a lot, but that's my goal."
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