Tom Brady left his mark in L.A. despite never…

“We don’t have room for Brady,” USC coach John Robinson said during the future GOAT’s senior year in high school.

(Chris Martinez / Associated Press)

Fall 1994
Senior year of high school

Brady was the quarterback of a 5-5 Junipero Serra High School team in San Mateo who, despite the middling record, had attracted the notice of Division I colleges. Midway through his senior year, he had whittled his top choices to USC, UCLA, Cal, Illinois and Michigan, according to author Seth Wickersham in his bestselling book “It’s Better to Be Feared.” Trojans offensive coordinator Mike Riley was especially enamored of Brady and had developed a strong relationship with the player and his family during a year and a half courtship. That fall, Brady would reduce his list to USC and Michigan.

That winter, however, USC ended up making the choice for Brady. “Riley flew north to see the Bradys and arrived at their house,” Wickersham writes, “a place he had been many times before, including just a few weeks earlier. Riley was friendly, but looked ashen. He had bad news. A few days earlier, head coach John Robinson had told Riley that the Trojans had landed a commitment from a quarterback out of the Chicago suburbs named Quincy Woods. “We don’t have room for Brady,” Robinson said.