The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Tom Brady on Player Development, Belichick at UNC & his First Year in TV | Big Noon Conversations

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt sits down with FOX’s lead NFL analyst and the GOAT, Tom Brady. They dive into the world of college football and Brady lays out what he thinks today’s college experience is lacking and how the focus of today’s athletes is too often on the money in the sport rather than long-term development and growth. He then discusses how that is affecting QB’s when they enter the NFL. Brady also explains what Bill Belichick’s players at North Carolina are in for when they go play for the 6x Super Bowl-winning Coach.  Brady reveals which QB in today’s NFL reminds him most of himself. Klatt and Brady then discuss Brady’s first year in the booth as FOX’s lead analyst on Sundays including some of the learning experiences he went through and why he is so excited and looking forward to Year 2 in the TV booth. Chapters 0:00-1:04 Intro1:05-4:27 Tom Brady on today’s college football landscape4:28-7:02 Would Tom Brady have finished his career at Michigan if he played in today’s landscape?7:03-9:15 Tom Brady on quarterback development in college football9:16-11:13 Tom Brady on Bill Belichick at UNC11:14-12:11 Which current NFL QB will be the next to win a Super Bowl ring?12:12-14:45 Which NFL QB is most like Tom Brady?14:46-16:38 How Tom Brady feels after one year in the broadcast booth16:39-18:10 Tom Brady on being the most prepared for calling the Super Bowl18:11-25:30 How Tom Brady’s work ethic translated to broadcasting25:31-27:36 What motivates Tom Brady Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's a really loaded question. We're just talking about money, money, money, money. Like, that's the only value in college. Bill Belichick at North Carolina. What they're going to get is... Are there guys in the league that remind you of you? In the biggest moments, you can depend on him the most. Go Michigan, Beatle House State.

You know, I can't say. I know you. But I can. You can. That's right. Hey, welcome into the Joel Clat show. I'm Joel Clat. This is another edition of Big New York.

conversations and today our biggest guests of them all lead NFL analysts here at Fox Tom Brady. Hey Joel. Joins the program. How you doing, man? Doing good, man. Good to be here with you. I'll spend some time with you, so I always enjoy it. Thank you for doing this. I very much appreciate it. Obviously, I'm a huge fan just aside from now getting to work at the same spot, but this is a real treat right here. I want to ask you about college football if you don't mind because that's obviously our space, a lot of our listeners.

Is there something that you really enjoy or don't enjoy about what's going on in the college space right now? It's a really loaded question. Yep. And, I mean, you look at your own personal experience with college football and the blessing that college football was for me and how it really propelled me into a successful college career. And, excuse me, a successful professional career.

And there were so many lessons that I learned in college about competition, about growing up, about responsibility, about team, about decision making, about work ethic, about leadership, all those sustainable traits that I learned at Michigan through not only kind of my doing my experience, but watching some of the other incredible men that I got to be a part of on that team and teams that I was a part of, that for my entire life I can look back on and be grateful. I didn't go to three different colleges. I didn't leave college when it seemed like I wasn't going to play. I wasn't at college to do anything other than have a great college experience, to go to school, to have camaraderie with my teammates, and to compete at a high level. That's really

where the focus was. And at a young age, that's where I thought, I think the focus needs to be. And the commercialization of what's happened in college sports, I wonder whether many kids these days will learn those sustainable traits that I think are invaluable to their life and life experience. Are we doing them a disservice because we're tempting them with, you know, some money in their pocket? The quick dollar.

The quick dollar. And it's very intriguing to get that quick dollar. But I don't think that, look, I was in college, we had a $400 scholarship check. It seemed like I was rich. You know, it really did. I'm sure most kids felt like that. You know, we got pizza cards to go to dinner, and we had training table, and it was an amazing experience. And we didn't think about the money.

And I just, these, we're such, these kids are such young ages. Their frontal lobes aren't even fully developed yet. And now we're tempting them with real-life adult situations and their parents and now they have agents. I'm sure it's a very confusing time. And I'm sure a lot of parents are confused. I'm sure a lot of kids are confused. But because we're just talking about money, money, money, money, money, that's the only value in college?

Is that what we're saying? That's, to me, the priorities are a bit messed up. And not only money, but where can I go immediately in order to get that money? So no longer is it I'm going to work. I'm going to develop. I'm going to take weaknesses and make them strengths in order to win a job here. I'm just going to say, where's an open job? All right, I'm going to go over there. So the freedom of movement attached with the money, I think is it calls into question really everything that you were talking about, about the sustainable traits, you know, for the future. Like, for instance, would Tom Brady have finished his career at Michigan if the rules were.

the same then as they are now. Yeah. It's such a hypothetical situation, a question to think about. The only thing I can answer is to say that based on what my experience was, I wouldn't want it any other way than the way that I did it. My college experience was very challenging. It was very competitive. The lessons I learned in college that I referred to earlier, and certainly about competition, those traits transform my life as a professional. I was ready to compete against anybody because the competition in college toughened me up so much that I had a self-belief and self-confidence in myself that whatever I was faced, I could overcome that. And I think if we take that away from a young student athlete to say, you know what, I know it's tough to compete,

but what are we going to do before you have to compete, we're actually going to to put you somewhere else so that you don't have to compete, that is absolutely the wrong thing to do to a young child. And I would challenge all the coaches and all the parents. They're the ones that have to guide these kids. You can't expect a 17 or 18 year old to make these great decisions. They're young. They don't have life experience. It should be the parents. Be a good parent. Teach your kid the right values. What's going to sustain them in their careers over a period of time? whether it's football or whether it's business or whether it's teaching or law school or medical school or a trade, whatever you want to do. You're going to have to go through hard things in your life.

You're going to have to make tough choices. And the value isn't always about the last dollar. So I think all these things that are happening in college sports, we're prioritizing the wrong things. We're valuing the wrong things. And I'm not saying it's not important. It's one of 10 things that are important. And certainly to me, it's not the most important. So when kids do go through that the right way, they're actually learning the right values. And when you have the right values in life, that's going to sustain you as you move on through the rest of your life. The issue that I see from a football sense, everything that you just said about life is absolutely accurate. And are we setting these men up, these young men up for success in life, you know, aside from football. Isn't that the

job of a parent? It should be. And I would argue a coach as well. Yeah, or an administrator. A hundred percent. 100% and that is in a lot of ways not afforded in the current system. So let's take it from just a football. Now you see all these young quarterbacks coming to the national football league. What do they not have and what do you think college coaches should be focusing on in development for college quarterbacks? I don't think there is much development at this point. There's a lack of development. There's a lack of development at the pro level.

In some ways there's a lack of development. In some ways, they're overdevelopment because they actually are starting at a young age. Maybe there's a physical development that I see that's probably a bit better based on all the instructional videos that are out there on YouTube or Instagram. There are more videos on how to throw a football now than I ever could have imagined growing up. Exactly. There's all those. So physically they're developed. But the mental learning how to study the game, learning the tactics, learning how to watch film, learning how to deal with the emotions of, of a competitive program, going up against a school rival, failing in front of 70,000 people,

I think we're lacking the mental emotional development. Physically, they may look developed. Mentally, emotionally, they're very underdeveloped. Sometimes their emotional growth is stunted by the fact that everybody is telling them how great they are all the time, or that it's not their fault all the time. You go lose a game, it's not your fault, honey.

It's someone else's fault. You know, the team aspect of sports is always, it's always about us. Bo Schembeckler at Michigan used to say, the team, the team, the team. And that was a great thing for me to learn because for me, when I got to the pro level, the only way that I could see us winning a championship

was a group of men collectively coming together to try to accomplish this great goal. It's really freaking hard to do that. You need everybody invested in the success of the team. So when you have those lessons, that is a very important structure for you to have. You've got to be able to relax. on your teammates. You have to be able to rely on your coaches. You have to develop the resilience

with you because as an athlete, as a broadcaster, whatever job you choose in life, you're going to have to work your way up. And the more you're entitled to something, the less you're actually going to learn about the reasons why you can become successful. Couldn't agree more. Yeah. Entitlement is littered throughout all of our sporting world, even down to the youth sports, which I'm dealing with with young kids, you're dealing with your kids as well. Before we go to the NFL, because I want to ask you about a couple of the quarterbacks in the NFL, but your old coach is now in college football. Bill Belichick at North Carolina, I'm as interested as any.

You would be the first one I would come to and say, like, what are those players in for? I'm very interested to it as well. What they're going to get is obviously the most prepared, the most hardworking coach that I'd ever been around. If you go to that school, you will be prepared to play at the next level. He's going to teach you the right fundamentals, the right techniques. He's going to have a high expectation for you. And you're going to develop a lot.

That's what I know. I think the challenge for him is he's dealing with a lot of probably underdeveloped players because he's dealt with guys that are four, five, six years further along that what he's normally had to deal with. So I think there's probably a learning curve for him, just, and this is me hypothesizing. It's not, you know, I don't have much knowledge of it, but I'm sure it's different coaching a 17 or 18-year-old

than even a 22 or 23-year-old. So there's just probably less physically developed. And he's a very deep thinker of the sport. I mean, I think what makes Coach Belichick so unbelievable tactically, he can break down an opponent. He watches so much film. He is so smart with how he approaches defensive schemes and offensive schemes and how much can these young kids retain? That may be an interesting challenge as well because in some ways they're not professional.

They don't have as much time as we had as professional athletes to go in there and study film and practice and meet and all that. And they don't have that amount of time at the college level. I mean, I can't wait to watch it though. I mean, I'm going to be totally into that. six current quarterbacks in the National Football League have won Super Bowls. There is a really good group of guys that have not won a Super Bowl. Of that group, names like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Herbert, Daniels, maybe other Stroud. Of that group, who do you see is maybe the next guy that gets that ring?

So, I mean, naturally, most people would say Lamar or Josh. and because they've been the closest. Championship games, MVP's, they have the highest expectation. I mean, football is different. It's like every year you start right at the bottom with everyone else. And I don't love predictions and hypothesizing because it's up to them. It's not up to the words I say or it's not up to the words they say. It's what they do over the next six months with their teammates and coaches in order to put themselves in a position to be successful.

Are there guys in the league that you really respect the way they go about their business or maybe remind you of you? I think from afar I can only tell so much because, you know, if I was in there every day, I could see their habits. It's always that line about who wants to win versus who's willing to do whatever it takes to win. Yeah, because everyone wants to win. Everyone wants to win. But what are the habits and the daily habits and the actionable things you need to do every day to put your team in a position to win? So Patrick Mahomes, to me, is the one that does that the most often. Sure.

Because who he is, I mean, obviously his physical talent, how he understands what he needs to do offensively, and he brings a consistent winning attitude to work every single day. In the biggest moments, you can depend on him the most. Yeah. That's clear. There's other guys that are still developing, and they need to prove it before, in my mind, I can say, oh, yeah, he's done it. Well, obviously, he hasn't done it yet. they've all shown flashes of amazing things. They're all great players. All of them can make tremendous plays. At some point, they need to take the next step and take, in my mind, more ownership of what they're doing in

terms of the organizational level to do more things to empower more people, to get more people on that train or that bus with you to head in the direction you want to go. Because I think the quarterback in many ways is the CEO of the team, certainly on Game Day. There's nobody that, the game more than the quarterback in NFL football. Now, you have to have the ability and the belief from the entire team offensively and defensively that your word means so much. And how you act every day matters to all three phases of the game. So I just don't think as a quarterback you go and you punch the clock, I did my job.

You know, I threw for 40 touchdowns. Why are we not winning? Yeah. Like, what are you doing in the offseason to help your defense? What are you doing to push the personnel department to get people, doing the right thing. Are you involved in game planning? I mean, I used to do game plans. Sure. I used to walk in there and say, these are the things we're doing. Okay, I used to do my own walkthroughs. I used to all right, guys, I don't give fuck with coaches want to come. We're doing our

walkthrough. We're going to come up with our own signals. We're going to come up because this is what I need to be on the field to be successful. So that's what Peyton Manning did. That's what Drew Brees did. That's what Philip Rivers did. That to me is what the great quarterbacks do. So are these other guys going to come in and say, you know what? I know I'm getting paid a lot. and I know that I do a lot, but what can I do more so that we can accomplish more? It's clear championships being the best motivated you to do all of those things, be the best team player that you could possibly be. We started a remote conversation the day before your first game on Fox.

We were doing Texas, Michigan. Didn't go well for the Wolverines that day. At halftime, we had that little remote. So I wanted to cap off your first year here. and just ask you like, how do you feel now that you've had one year in the booth? I had a great year. I had the best team, and I had so many teammates that helped me through that first year. For me, I was like really going into the year, and I thought I was prepared because I had a lot of research, and I had, you know, a year to kind of prepare and a lot of practice

games, but there was absolutely nothing that I did that could really prepare me for what I was about to endure. And there was a lot of growing pain. through the year for me just in terms of prep and then obviously going on air and there's things you messed up and there's things that you make mistakes and probably a lot like being an NFL quarterback You know you think hey I'm prepared and I got it and I practice and then you know you go in a real game of your rookie year and you're like oh my god like that's a lot different It's a lot faster where my eyes what am I doing and then you know gets a little better in week two and a little better in week three and then sometimes you regress a little bit and sometimes you do things you really like that impress you and then sometimes you're like you forgot completely going into week nine, like how did I do that? Or what was I talking about? And then it's just, you know, by the time I got to the Super Bowl,

I was way more comfortable and it was just a really rewarding year. And it wasn't perfect by any means. And I certainly didn't expect it to be perfect, but just excited about now going into year two with one year under my belt. And again, still having people that are on this journey with me that kind of have brought so much joy to my life, even my post career.

So it's been really amazing. So, you know, you cap off your first year with 128 million people watching your game. Meanwhile, like, I think back to my start in the business, I did a high school football game in Denver. Maybe 28 people were watching, you know? It was just like moms and dads and maybe some relatives of some of these high school kids. Were you prepared at all for going through those growing pains in your first year on that stage? Sure. I think ironically for me, and I was very fortunate, again, I played in 10 of them.

Yeah. So there's nothing about the feelings and emotions of preparing for a Super Bowl game that I hadn't been through. Yeah. So actually I felt the most prepared I'd been all season. It was the only time that had two weeks to prepare for a game. Yeah. So I actually felt like I was ready to roll and I felt great. And, you know, all the things that when I watched the game back again, it wasn't perfect.

I wish I could have got deeper in some areas or laid out a few times. But I'm like, okay, I really was really clear with the information. There's a lot of things that were done well. And the game had its own way, kind of got out of hand at the end of the first half. But the best part for me is I loved it. I enjoyed it. It was like kind of the icing on the cake at the end of the year for our whole crew. And it was a really fun Super Bowl week.

And the prep was fun. The week was fun. And, you know, I'm just really excited now. to pick up where we started at the end of last year. And I think this year is going to be a great year for us. Well, I mean, you were famous for your evaluation. You know, there's stories of like night of the game, you know, the next morning. You would have an evaluation of the last game, a scouting report for the next team,

ready for the coaches, and they had to kind of follow you. I'm wondering, like, how did that work ethic, like, work with broadcasting? which is, let's face it, more subjective than objective. Totally. In terms of how are you doing? What worked and what didn't work? How did that evaluation that you always poured in, you know, jive with that? I think that the tricky part for broadcasting is everybody likes something a little bit different.

Yeah. So it's not like a scoreboard because the winning, the team that has more points on the scoreboard's the winner. And then the one that has less points is the loser. It's easy. I think when you're broadcasting a game, the listener, like something different from everybody. They like your voice. They like your inflection. They like your technical parts. Or they don't. Or they don't like any of those things. That's right. They like or they don't like. You know, something like a little teaching, some like a little,

you know, entertainment, some like personal or something. Some of you're talking too much about yourself. So depending on who you ask, you get a lot of feedback. And that's, I think, the little bit of confusing part. Yeah. And then I think what I really settled into is just go do the best you could do and be proud of it and work hard to prepare and make sure you got good camaraderie. and chemistry with your crew, and then go have fun at the game. And there's still, again, no real bullseys. So it's not like when you walk out, you're like, man, we crushed it today. That's exactly right.

You know, sometimes you're like, watching back a lot of the games, this, you know, off season going to this year. It was like, there were a lot of games where I got through the first quarter of a game. I was like, okay, anybody could have done that. Sure. You know, it's like, where can you really find your niche? And, you know, even for me, like, where I, as a player where I was really good, it was really good. situational football. I was really good at the end of halves. I was really good at end of games. I was really good at knowing the why a team could win or could lose a game.

Sure. And I think I really tried to settle into that late in the year. Like, what's the bullseye that each team needs to hit to win the game? You know, if you're going to, and that's very much how I approached it as a player. So some of that familiarity as a player really does help me as a broadcaster. Now, the challenging part is how do you convey all those things to the audience? Because some of them are hard to communicate. Yeah, it's a really technical game. And I think when we see it on TV, it's like, let's talk about the kicking, like punting the ball.

Now, when you're an NFL player and you're sitting in a team meeting room talking about the game, the punt team is critical to winning and losing the game. Because if one team punts at a 45-yard net average and the other puns at a 35-yard net average, 10 yards per possession over the course of a game is huge. and that correlates often to scoring points. And if points are at a premium, one or two points win a game, well, that's a difference. When you're talking about punting as a broadcaster, you don't talk about it. The ball is punted and you go to commercial.

That's right. And no one says anything. And it's like, as a player, you're like, damn, can we get a good field position or keep them from getting good field position? As a broadcaster, it's like, ho-hum, you know, change your possession, let's move on. So there's a lot of little things like that that maybe the viewer can't fully understand or appreciate, there's a production going on to the game as well. And I'm sure you feel that we have about a lot of things because you have a lot more experience than I do.

I do. I mean, there's, and, you know, you mentioned earlier, you said, like, there's things that, you know, we're left on the table that you wish you would have gotten into a little bit deeper or so on and so forth. That never, that never changes. Yeah. You know, there's still things, you know, about Ohio State Michigan last year that I wish I would have gotten into, but there just wasn't time.

You didn't want to fit it in. So it's one of those things that the target. in broadcasting, you'll never reach it and you'll never hit it. But it's the journey that kind of makes it exciting, at least for me, is the journey towards and the striving towards something that you're really proud of is something that I cherish almost. And that's become kind of my competitive lane. I'm interested. Can I just say something, even as a quarterback for me, as a professional quarterback who played 23 years, and at the end of, let's say my last three seasons in Tampa. I was throwing 700 passes a season. And I would throw 20 of those passes exactly the way I

wanted with the right arc, the right pace, the right, you know, position on the receiver, 20 of 700. And I worked all year round to get my throwing mechanics the way I wanted to. I worked with my receivers. So then it's like you go into broadcasting and it's like, why would you think you're going to hit 350 of the 700. That's right. In the end, you're probably only going to hit a limited amount. And I think that's what you're searching for. Those parts of the season or those parts of the game where you're like, I really got that. That's right. And okay. Like, I know there's a lot of other parts that you don't want to have, you know, these terrible moments where you completely miss it. And I think maybe I was really conscious of that early. And then I got to be a little more freed up as the season went on.

I think, you know, landing on those situations because you say like maybe 20 of the 700, but what you worked for all year is that those 20 happened at the right time. Yeah. You know, so that in the right moment, on the right third down, the right clock situation, that you were prepared to give your best right there. And that's how I view broadcasting. Yeah. Is I want to set the table.

I actually call it chum the waters. You know, you chum the waters. You throw a bunch of lines in the lake. And then at some point, my job is to know which line gets grabbed by the game, which I don't know which one it is, and then can I reel it in? Do I have enough depth, knowledge of the philosophy of both teams and what's going on with the players and the game situation to reel it in so that the fan really knows what's going on right then?

That's what really excites me, is those moments when you can reel it in and give some real depth. Yeah, amazing insight. And there's so many ways that it can go. And I think, too, you have like when you start, what do I talk about? There's a ball that's thrown and completed. Like, what do you say? Do you want to say the guy made a great throw or do you want to walk with the great route or the great offensive call or do you want to talk about the situation or you want to talk about the defensive coverage

or the blitz that didn't get home or the protection that held up? And there's, you know, it's a white canvas for you. And it's totally blank and you get to create it. And I think that's the enjoyable part for me is like you go into a game and it is a blank slate. And you hope that two teams perform really well. But at the end of the day, they've got to go do it. And you're a complimentary piece to this amazing game that we love. That's right.

And the game should be the entertainment. And then just to add a little value to the viewer so that they can understand the game a little bit deeper and to teach them a little bit of something. So I think those are the parts I probably enjoy the most. I'm excited to see how much you enjoyed it because some people don't. Some people get in the booth and are like, absolutely not.

I don't want any part of that. But to see you kind of latch on to this is very cool. My last question is, what motivates you now? What motivates me now? I think it's always the same, and it has been for a long time. Like, I don't want to let people down. People that work with me and people that I'm involved with and that I commit to, I always want to feel like I come through and I'm ready to go

and I want to be the best I could be for them. So my Fox team, like, though I don't want to be, you know, the broken wheel, so to speak. Like, so I want to come through and I want to work hard and I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror at the end of the day and go maybe it wasn't the best, but it wasn't because I was not prepared. Sure. So I prepared my butt off and, you know, this is what I want to do, this is what I want to achieve.

And whether I hit it or not, like I said, I hit 20 of 700 as a pro. We worked on it every day. I'm probably not going to hit it that often. But at least there's a purpose for me waking up every day to go out there. and do, you know, is the best I possibly. And I want to be the best I could be for my kids. Sure. Certainly.

I want to be the best I could be for my extended family. So that's just try to lead a life of integrity and try to, you know, work hard and be prepared and do all the things that I've been so fortunate to do. I see my life. I'm so blessed in everything and I've been able to do. And the only thing I, in so many ways, too, is like other people that ask questions, advice, like, how can I give back to others? Because I had so many mentors that gave back to me.

So I want to be available to people. people help them in the ways that I can and, you know, continue on this great journey that I've been on. Giants commanders, opener. Let's go. It's going to be a great one. Eagles Chiefs. Week two.

Week two. Super Bowl rematch. America's Game of the Week. Cannot wait for that. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you sitting down and being prepared to sit down like this. You brought it, man. Thanks, pal.

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. You're amazing at what you do. It's awesome to watch you. I've learned a lot from watching your broadcast. And you continue to deliver for everybody as well. So congratulations. I know you're never satisfied, and I think your best is yet to come as well.

I hope so. I hope so. And go Michigan, Beatlehouse State. You know, I can't say. I know you. But I can. You can.