What If Tom Brady Would Have Played Football at Illinois Instead?

The GOAT didn't have many scholarship offers initially in high school, but Illinois showed interest early on

NFL legend Tom Brady is all smiles before an NFL football game at Huntington Bank Field, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

By now we all know the story of Tom Brady.

An underdog kid goes to Michigan as the seventh-string quarterback, works his way up the depth chart overtime, leads the Wolverines to an impressive run before becoming the 199th overall pick in the 2000 NFL draft, and from there became the greatest and most accomplished to ever play the game.

But what if Brady didn't go to Michigan?

What if he instead went to a different Big Ten school? One that was anything but a college football power at the time.

Illinois Was Among First Programs to Show Interest in Tom Brady

Brady joined the "Champion Mindset with Daniel Cormier" last month and shared the first program to show interest in him.

"There were teams like Army, and then BYU, Fresno State..but then like, Illinois, in the Big Ten, and then Michigan came out of nowhere and fortunately they ran an offense that required a bigger, taller quarterback that could process the information, which is what my skillset was."

Brady graduated high school in 1995 and enrolled at Michigan that fall. He would redshirt as a freshman and play for the Wolverines through the 1999 season.

With those years in mind, let's take a look at how different history might have been had Brady instead gone to Illinois.

What if Tom Brady Instead Attending the University of Illinois?

Unknown date 1996; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; FILE PHOTO; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Tom Brady (10) during the 1996 season. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

For the sake of conversation, we'll assume that Brady again redshirts in this scenario, not seeing the field for the Fighting Illini in 1995. That's perhaps a shame as Illinois goes 5-5-1, despite the team tossing 17 interceptions to just eight touchdown passes on the year.

1996 Illinois with Tom Brady

We instead begin in 1996 where things get worse for Illinois. Lou Tepper's final Fighting Illini squad goes just 2-9 overall and wins just one Big Ten game, a 46-43 victory over lowly Indiana.

The quarterbacks, Scott Weaver and Mike Hoekstra, combine to throw 20 interceptions to just seven touchdown passes that fall.

With the young Brady instead barking signals, we'll give the Illini two more wins, edging out Northwestern (27-24 loss) and Minnesota (23-21 loss) to go 4-7 instead of 2-9 in Tepper's final season.

1997 Illinois with Tom Brady

Illinois was putrid in 1997, going 0-11 in Ron Turner's first season as head coach.

The quarterback play was similar as Hoekstra, Tim Lavery, and Kirk Johnson combined for just seven touchdown passes and 22 more interceptions in the embarrassing campaign.

Not only did that Illinois team go entirely winless on the year, it also didn't play any opponent to a one-possession game.

Sorry to say, just like his freshman year of high school football went, Brady would have gone through an entirely winless fall in 1997.

1998 Illinois with Tom Brady

Illinois made significant improvements in 1998, moving all the way up to be a three-win team, two coming in Big Ten play.

That happened despite Kurt Kittner, Hoekstra, and Johnson throwing just three touchdown passes all season.

Ultimately, with Brady, the 1998 season doesn't change a ton. We'll give Illinois a Week 1 win at Washington State instead of the 20-13 loss it suffered, but overall it's just a 4-7 campaign for the Fighting Illini.

1999 Illinois with Tom Brady

Illinois turned things around in 1999, improving to 8-4 overall and a MicronPC.com Bowl win over Virginia after a season that featured an upset win at No. 9 Michigan in late October.

Kittner soared in 1999, throwing 22 touchdowns to just four interceptions. He wouldn't have beaten Brady out for the starting spot though, and with Brady, gets a quick start against Michigan State in late-September to move to 4-0.

It then beats Indiana, instead of loses, and comes of its off week to beat a Minnesota team (that actually won 37-7 in Champaign) to move to 6-0.

Illinois then goes to the Big House and stil beats Michigan, especailly considering Brady isn't wearing maize and blue, and ultimately goes 10-1 in the regular season, falling only to No. 2 Penn State, in a thriller, the day before Halloween.

As a result, Illinois is rated ahead of Wisconsin (also 10-1) at season's end, and earns a bid to the Rose Bowl.

There, it beats Stanford and captures the only Illinois Rose Bowl victory 1963, and Brady goes down in Illinois lore.

Brady's NFL Career Following NFL Run

After seeing Brady lead Illinois to an improbable 11-1 season and Rose Bowl victory, the Chicago Bears decide to pass on kicker Paul Edinger with the 174th overall pick in the NFL draft, and take Brady, despite having selected Cade McNown from UCLA in the First Round the year previous.

It doesn't take Brady long to unseat Jim Miller and Shane Matthews to take over the starting quarterback role, but unfortunately for him, offensive coordinator John Schoop only lets Brady throw screens and his professional career never quite pans out.

After working as a successful insurance salesman following his football career, Brady reunites with former Illinois teammate Josh Whitman in the Fighting Illini athletic department in an assistant athletic director role.

Nick Shepkowski's Quick Takeaway

I remember hearing stories about how Illinois had tried to land Aaron Rodgers and Jay Cutler as underrated high school prospects, but Brady sharing that story is the first I had heard of Illinois being interested in him.

In all seriousness, Tom Brady likely never becomes Tom Brady without going to Michigan, where he says sports psychologist Greg Harden forever changed his life.

Every all-time great has that moment that helps them kick the door down.

Michael Jordan had being cut from the high school basketball team, while Brady venting to a sports psychologist wound up entirely changed how he went about his business.

It wouldn't have been impossible to happen anywhere else, but chances are that if Brady never comes across Harden, then the last 25 years of NFL history is likely entirely different, as well.