Best-Selling Book Reveals Tom Brady Was ‘Courted’ By BYU Football

PROVO, Utah – Who knew the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time, Tom Brady, had an interest in BYU football growing up?

New York Times bestseller The Dynasty, authored by Jeff Benedict, unveiled this unique story connecting BYU and the current Tampa Bay Buccaneer.

The Dynasty looks at the New England Patriots run of six Super Bowl titles forming the greatest sports dynasty of the 21st century. Brady was there for it all.

The Dynasty from @simonschuster is now a @nytimes Best Seller.

Order your copy as @authorjeff tells inside stories of the New England Patriots: https://t.co/QBjdO2LCpI pic.twitter.com/56VdClODzy

— New England Patriots (@Patriots) September 17, 2020

In the book, a section about BYU of all things pops up within the 592-page book.

Tom Brady and his connection to BYU

BYU came up was because of former National Champion punter Lee Johnson. Johnson was teammates with Brady in New England from 2000-2001, Brady’s first two years in the league.

According to the book, Johnson watched Brady throw passes that were off target, and he asked his fellow special teamer, Adam Vinatieri, “who’s this guy?”

Then Benedict got into the story about Brady and BYU in the book.

“Johnson had been in the league for more than fifteen years. Brady was drawn to the fact that he always had a smile on his face and a contagiously positive attitude about everything. Plus, Brady knew that Johnson had played college ball at Brigham Young University, which gave them something in common. Brady had been courted by BYU and he followed the program.”

Who reading this is thinking, what if Tom Brady had signed to play football at BYU? What would have happened?

What if Brady had enrolled at BYU?

Brady grew up out west in San Mateo, California, and prepped at Junipero Serra High School. So it’s not crazy to think BYU –a program known for producing excellent QB play at that time– garnered interest from Brady at some point during his recruitment. Especially with how highly regarded former BYU QB John Walsh was on NFL Draft boards when Brady was a heralded recruit.

Brady ended up signing and playing for the Michigan Wolverines. BYU had quite the QB haul in 1995 headlined by Steve Sarkisian from the JUCO ranks and Brandon Doman from Skyline High. But we’re talking about Tom Brady here.

Sarkisian led BYU to a historic 14-1 record and No. 5 ranking in 1996. But after that season, LaVell Edwards last four years didn’t produce an outright conference title. Brady probably would have changed that in a big way. Brandon Doman took over the starting quarterback job in LaVell’s final two games as head coach in 2000 and went on to win his first 14 starts.

Tom Brady went on to lead Michigan to a pair of 10-win seasons in his two full seasons as the starting quarterback. You probably know the rest of his story.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm, KSL Newsradio). Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.