Part 2
He was so frustrated that he contemplated transferring. He thought about leaving. But he stayed. He showed persistence. He showed patience. And his hard work finally began to pay off in his junior year, 1998. He earned the starting quarterback job. He started every game. He led the Wolverines to a 10-3 record and a Citrus Bowl victory. He passed for 2,427 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Think about that. A national championship season, and the future GOAT threw 15 passes. That's a footnote. That's a trivia question. But it's also a lesson in patience. Brady could have transferred. He could have gone to a smaller school and started immediately. But he stayed. He bet on himself.
It was a stellar season. It seemed like nothing could stop him from continuing to improve. But something was going to jeopardize that. Something named Drew Henson. And that's where our tour takes a sharp turn.
Stop 5: The Michigan Years Part 2: The Comeback Kid and the Orange Bowl
Before his senior season, a tight quarterback battle with sophomore Drew Henson put everything in doubt. Henson was an ultra-talented player. Brady even described him as faster, stronger, and possessing a better arm. That's a direct quote. And Michigan's head coach, Lloyd Carr, made a difficult decision. He decided that both Brady and Henson would each play a quarter before he decided the starter for the second half.
Through the first five games, it worked. Michigan started 5-0. But then it collapsed. In week six, Michigan fell behind by 17 points in the second half with Henson playing. Brady entered the game and nearly led a comeback. They fell short by three points. The following week, Brady threw for over 300 yards. The quarterback battle was officially over.
And one of his most memorable college moments came later that season. Trailing by 10 points with just minutes left against Penn State, Brady led the Wolverines on a comeback. He found the end zone twice. They won 31-27. That earned him the nickname "The Comeback Kid." Something he shared with his childhood idol, Joe Montana.
Think about that. The same nickname as the guy he watched make The Catch. The same nickname as the guy who made him believe that something good was going to happen. But unbeknownst to him, his ability to perform in clutch moments would eventually lead him to becoming the most hated player of all time.
He finished his senior season with 2,217 passing yards and 16 touchdowns. He capped it off with an Orange Bowl victory against Alabama. In that game, he threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns. Despite sharing time with Henson, Brady showcased his resilience. And that should have brought him more attention from NFL scouts. But it didn't.
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The Orange Bowl was his final college game. He threw for 369 yards and four touchdowns against Alabama. It was a masterclass. It was the kind of performance that should have made scouts drool. But they didn't. They saw the timeshare with Henson. They saw the 6'5" frame and the average arm. They saw a system quarterback. They were wrong.
Many looked at the situation with Drew Henson as a red flag. They thought Lloyd Carr was trying to replace Brady. They thought he was a system quarterback. They thought he was a backup. And when it came to the NFL Combine, Brady didn't impress. His draft report included that brutal line we started with. Mel Kiper ranked him as the number 10 quarterback in the draft. He projected Brady to go in the fifth round.
But he wouldn't even be selected in the fifth round. There were six other quarterbacks taken before him. The Brady 6. Finally, at pick number 199, Tom Brady was selected by the New England Patriots. And it was a miracle he even made the roster. At the time, Brady was kept on as the fourth quarterback on the depth chart. Something he was familiar with from his time at Michigan.
Before he was drafted, the New England Patriots were not the franchise many fans of the NFL expected. But that's a story for another stop on the tour. So why did NFL scouts see the Henson timeshare as a red flag? Why did they ignore the comebacks, the stats, the wins? Why did Mel Kiper rank him as the 10th best quarterback? Why did he fall to the sixth round? These are the questions that haunt the archive. And we're just getting started. The tour continues in the next section, where we'll see how a backup and a brutal hit changed the NFL forever. Trust me, you won't want to miss it.
The Accidental Savior: How a Backup and a Brutal Hit Changed the NFL Forever
Tour stop four. We’re in the archive room now, the shelves labeled 2000 and 2001. Before you look at the hit, look at the depth chart. Tom Brady is fourth string. Not second. Not third. Fourth. The New England Patriots are a franchise that has never won a Super Bowl. They lost Super Bowl XX to the Chicago Bears 46-10. They lost Super Bowl XXXI to the Green Bay Packers 35-21. In 2000, Bill Belichick gets hired, the team finishes 5-11, and Brady plays one game, completing 1 of 3 passes. That’s it. That’s the entire rookie year. So when we say the greatest quarterback of all time was an afterthought, we mean it literally. He was a name at the bottom of a list. A guy holding a clipboard. A guy whose own scouting report said he lacked a strong arm. And yet, the most important season in modern NFL history is about to start with him on the bench. Ask yourself: what does a dynasty look like before it knows it’s a dynasty? A clipboard. A depth chart. A backup nobody is watching.
