“You Must Bench Tom Brady”: Ghosts of Past Life in Michigan Keep Popping Up but 24 Years Later, TB12 Has the Last Laugh

Over the years, Tom Brady has settled all questions about his journey on the football field. After calling it quits on a 23-year career as an NFL QB, Tom Brady ended his journey as the unequivocal GOAT of the sport. But Brady never had an easy journey as an athlete. There was indeed a time that Tom Brady was made to ride the bench during his football career. 

In the present day, it seems absurd to think of a scenario where Brady has to be benched. With a sparkling resume of 7 Super Bowls and 3 NFL MVP’s, there has never been a question about benching Brady over more than two decades. But 24 years ago, Brady faced a challenging decision at his alma mater, which perhaps shaped the Tom Brady we know today. 

The time Tom Brady was benched in college

It was the end of the century, and Tom Brady entered the 1999 CFB season as a senior for the Michigan Wolverines. In his previous years, Brady had been the unequivocal starter for the team. But Wolverines HC Llyod Carr had a stern decision to make, as he would remove Brady from his starting role in the ‘99 season in favor of the team’s sophomore sensation, Drew Henson. 

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At the end of the day, Carr eventually developed a unique pattern entering that season, as he would start the first quarter with Brady, and the second with Henson, riding whichever of the two had the hot hand to end the game. The decision seems baffling to think about, given Brady’s career trajectory, but the decision for Carr wasn’t as simple way back then. In fact, Carr wasn’t the only one who felt that way. 

The man who replaced Brady 

Ahead of the start of the 1999 season, there had been growing buzz around the highest-rated QB to ever come out of the state of Michigan. That QB was not Tom Brady, but Drew Henson. Henson had been specially recruited by former coach and Michigan legend Bo Schembechler to join the Wolverines in 1998. After serving as the backup to Brady in his freshman year, there was major buzz to start Henson over Brady in the following season. 

The great Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit Free Press was amongst the many who called for Henson to take over the starting role from Brady. The most interesting part of Henson’s story might be his life outside the football field, as he would also play in the MLB after being drafted by the Yankees in 1998, coincidentally his freshman year at Michigan. He retired from Baseball in 2004 to eventually head to the NFL, where he would spend most of his time as a third-string QB, watching the man who he almost replaced win Super Bowl after Super Bowl. 

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