Dec. 10, 2005

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Notre Dame junior quarterback Brady Quinn (Dublin, Ohio/Coffman HS) finished fourth Saturday night in the voting for the 2005 Heisman Trophy, making him the highest Irish finisher since Raghib Ismail took second to BYU's Ty Detmer in the 1990 Heisman race.

Quinn received seven first-place votes, 21 second-place votes and 128 third-place votes among the 923 voters. The top three finishers were Reggie Bush from USC, quarterback Vince Young from Texas and the '04 winner, USC quarterback Matt Leinart.

Here was the voting for the top five slots:

    Name		                          1st	2nd	3rd	Total Points
	1. Reggie Bush, USC			             784	 89	 11	  2,541
	2. Vince Young, Texas		             79	613	145	  1,608
	3. Matt Leinart, USC			             18	147	449	    797
	4. Brady Quinn, Notre Dame	          7	 21	128	    191
	5. Michael Robinson, Penn State	     2	  7	 29	     49

The most recent top-five finisher from Notre Dame was tailback Reggie Brooks who was fifth in 1992 behind winner Gino Torretta (Miami) and runner-up Marshall Faulk (San Diego State).

Quinn set virtually every Notre Dame passing record in sight in 2005. He has set Irish single-season records for attempts (405), completions (263), passing yards (3,633) and TD passes (32), with the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl yet to count in those totals. He's already the Notre Dame career leader in pass attempts (1,090), completions (611), passing yards (8,050) and TD passes (58).

Quinn was named winner of the Sammy Baugh Award as college football's top passer by the Touchdown Club of Columbus (Ohio). He was one of three finalists for the Davey O'Brien Award as the top quarterback in the country and one of five finalists for the Walter Camp Player of the Year as presented by the Walter Camp Football Foundation. He's also one of five finalists for the Manning Award, which goes to the top quarterback, and is the only quarterback award presented after the bowl games are played.

Here's how Quinn fared in terms of numbers in 2005, compared to some of the nation's other top-rated signal-callers:

Name, School (games played)	 	    Att.	Comp.	Int.	Pct.	 Yards	TD	Rating
Brady Quinn, Notre Dame (11)	     405	  263	  7	 .649	  3,633	32	162.9
Matt Leinart, USC (12)		          391	  254	  7	 .649	  3,450	27	158.4
Vince Young, Texas (12)		         285	  182	 10	 .638	  2,769	26	168.6
Drew Olson,  UCLA (11)		          354	  232	  3	 .655	  3,055	31	165.2
Michael Robinson, Penn State (11) 272	  141	  9	 .518	  2,097	16	129.4
Troy Smith, Ohio State (10)		     209	  130	  4	 .622	  1,940	14	158.4

-- ND --