SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Here a Brady, there a Brady. Everywhere, it seems, when you're talking quarterbacks around Notre Dame these days, there is a Brady.

Is Charlie Weis, the new coach, talking about Brady Quinn, his rising-star-with-a-bullet junior quarterback?

Or is he talking about his old Brady, Tom Brady, the guy whom Weis helped size for three Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots?

Through the tutelage of Weis, the old Brady and the current Brady are intertwined. The Notre Dame Brady could not feel more fortunate.

"The entire spring,'' Quinn said Wednesday, "all we watched was Patriots tape. Very rarely did we watch our own practices.''

That's because Weis came to Notre Dame last December from the Patriots. He was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach who groomed Tom Brady -- the 199th pick of the 2000 draft -- into becoming the first NFL quarterback to win three Super Bowls before his 28th birthday.

Quinn was a two-year starter at Notre Dame before Weis arrived. But his transformation into an elite quarterback this fall is one of the best stories of college football.

Watching Tom Brady on all those tapes was the first important step of the transition.

"He never put their team in a bad position,'' Quinn said. "Even when there was adversity or broken plays, he made good decisions.''

Said Weis, "Using one of the best players in the NFL as your visual resource, it's a great tool.''

Quinn expects Saturday's game against Tennessee to be the sternest test of the season for Notre Dame's offense. And that includes Michigan and Southern Cal.

Whatever the Vols' struggles, defense isn't one of them.

"Their defensive front,'' said Quinn, "it's almost like they could play any other position on the field as athletic as they are.''

Tennessee's defense will encounter a far-more advanced Quinn than the one it faced last year in Knoxville.

As a sophomore, Quinn's pass-efficiency rating was 125.9. He completed 54 percent of his attempts and weighed 17 TD passes against 10 interceptions. All in all, a nice season.

Get a load of this year's model: pass-efficiency rating, 161.9; completion percentage, 65.8; a school season-record (with four games to go) 20 TD passes and only four interceptions.

Quinn, only 401 yards from becoming Notre Dame's career passing-yardage leader, comes to face Tennessee fresh from throwing a school-record six TD passes against Brigham Young.

Who among Notre Dame's storied quarterbacks held the old record? Brady Quinn, five, against Michigan State a month earlier.

"He shows a lot more poise and confidence in the system,'' said senior receiver Matt Shelton. "He's getting NFL coaching and learning things a lot of quarterbacks aren't getting.''

The system Weis brought is more demanding of the quarterback than the West Coast offense the Irish ran last year under Tyrone Willingham.

Then, Quinn didn't have the freedom to change plays at the line of scrimmage. Sometimes he had to run a play he could tell wasn't going to work.

"He's definitely got more pressure on him than even I do,'' said Weis.

To which Quinn replies, "I wouldn't call it a burden. It's something I like to do.''

Playing at Notre Dame is something Quinn likes to do. How catchy, a quarterback from Dublin leading the Fighting Irish. OK, Dublin, Ohio.

Quinn says he will be back next year, despite his growing stature as an immediate NFL prospect. Southern Cal's Matt Leinhart may be the top quarterback on the 2006 draft clock, but Quinn is starting to be mentioned in the same paragraph.

Whenever he leaves, the next Notre Dame quarterback will have plenty of Brady videotape from which to watch and learn.

Only it'll be Quinn, not Tom.