Tom Brady once revealed how his high school counselor gave him a harsh reality check right before college

Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady did not have any easy as a football player. He was not heavily recruited from Junipero Serra High School, California, before he ended up playing for the Michigan Wolverines.

During an interview on "VT.com" in September 2023, Brady revealed how his high school counselor gave him a reality check when he was being recruited before joining the Wolverines (10:27).

"My high school counselor came up to me and he's like, 'Tom, we gotta start applying to colleges.' And I'm like, 'Dude, I'm getting a scholarship, what are you talking about?' And he's like, 'Yeah, no. We're gonna apply to all these colleges," Brady said.

"Funny story, I never applied to any college. But I actually got halfway decent through my fourth year in college that the momentum picked up and I wanted to go and I got offered a scholarship to UCLA and then they turned me away at the last minute because another kid signed before me and I really wanted to go to USC, that was probably my first choice but they didn't want me either."

Brady revealed that once he walked into the Big House during his recruitment, he was so awed by the stadium that he called back his father from the airport and decided to join the Michigan Wolverines immediately.

The Tom Brady Michigan story almost did not happen

When Tom Brady arrived in Ann Arbor, he was No. 7 on the Michigan Wolverines' quarterback depth chart and he had to fight to get any snaps with all the prospects ahead of him.

Brady redshirted his first season in Michigan and lost the QB1 battle to Brian Griese for the next two seasons as the starting quarterback led the Wolverines to an unbeaten season in 1997.

During an interview on "VT.com," Tom Brady revealed that the frustrations of being so low on the depth chart almost led to him transferring to the California Golden Bears and changing the trajectory of the quarterback's Wolverines career.

"My second year … and the guy who was playing, he was very much their guy. He had a great start to his career, and I was looking up at all of these guys on the depth chart who were ahead of me, and I thought, 'I’m never going to get a chance here,'" Brady said.

Then-Michigan coach Lloyd Carr likely changed the trajectory of Brady's career by encouraging him to stay and fight for his place.

"I went and I talked to Lloyd Carr, who was the head coach, and said, ‘I don’t think I’m going to get my chance here.’ He said, ‘Tom, I want you to stay, and I believe in you. You can be a good player, but you have to start worrying about the things you can control,'" Brady said.

Tom Brady said he received a lot of help from the Wolverines' "secret weapon," counselor Greg Harden, who helped build his confidence enough to compete for the QB1 spot and clinch it in his last two years in Ann Arbor.