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Tom Brady being called the greatest of all time? Yeah, that’s no surprise.
But coming from a pro football head coach and fellow quarterback in Ann Arbor? Yeah, that might add a little something to the cache.
Of course Jim Harbaugh has a ton of reverence for Brady, given that they both wore the winged helmet and played in the NFL. Brady, of course, is still going, having signed this offseason with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his first time wearing a different uniform at the professional level since being drafted by the New England Patriots in 2000.
In an hour-long conversation with his childhood friend Jay Nordlinger, now the senior editor for conservative magazine National Review, Harbaugh shared his thoughts about Brady’s ascension, from his time at Michigan to his stellar NFL career.
“No doubt about that – he’s the greatest of all time in football,” Harbaugh said. “And I think he’s pretty much lapped the field. I’ve talked to a lot of people who knew him when he was here and they won. They won games when he started. He was in a quarterback competition, I think it was Drew Henson was a phenom quarterback who came in as a freshman and Tom was an upperclassman. They were splitting time. But Tom won big games and was drafted in the sixth-round, was very famously a late-round pick, but became the greatest of all time.”
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But why is Brady so good, especially since he did split time his senior year with Henson?
Harbaugh says a lot of it has to do with his mentality, some of which he witnessed in person when they met up at Michigan Stadium before the Wolverines 2016 matchup against Colorado.
“He’s so high drive,” Harbaugh said. “I mean, he’s such a tense competitor and is really taking care of himself so well. Through his dedication to training and nutrition. I had a chance to play catch with him one time before a Michigan game and (he) could really – to throw a football, it’s such a beautiful throwing motion. So long, so many levers that are working, yet it’s a compact throwing motion. I remember playing catch with him and thinking, ‘This ball is catching itself!’ I mean, it’s coming in here on a string, like a laser. But the way I was catching it, he was throwing such a catchable ball even though it was coming in and spinning at high velocity. I was fighting hard just to get it back to him and just be respectable myself!
“It’s a thing of beauty. Probably (how) people comment watching Ted Williams playing baseball back then. You’re looking at the best of all time.”