Dec. 7, 2006
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -Brady Quinn took this round from Troy Smith.
The Notre Dame quarterback won the Maxwell Award as the player of the year Thursday night, beating out Ohio State’s Smith, the Heisman Trophy favorite.
Quinn, Smith and Arkansas running back Darren McFadden are the finalists for the Heisman, which will be handed out Saturday night in New York.
“Winning this award makes me look forward to Saturday night that much more,” Quinn said. “When you go back and look at it, the so-called rivalry between me and Troy pretty much began with last year’s Fiesta Bowl. Things just kind of went on from there. He and Darren (McFadden) have both had great seasons, and we’ve done pretty well for ourselves. We’ll just see what happens in New York.”
Smith won the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s best quarterback at the College Football Awards show and earlier in the day was honored as player of the year by the Walter Camp Foundation.
Quinn passed for 3,278 and 35 touchdowns this season, leading the Fighting Irish (10-2) to a Sugar Bowl bid. Notre Dame will face LSU on Jan. 3 in New Orleans.
He is the fifth Notre Dame player to win the Maxwell and first since defensive lineman Ross Browner in 1977.
Rutgers tailback Ray Rice was the other finalists for the Maxwell Award.
Previous Maxwell Award Winners from Notre Dame
1949 TE Leon Hart1952 HB John Lattner1953 HB John Lattner1966 LB Jim Lynch1977 DE Ross Browner