This column by David Jones of the Patriot-News appeared today on PennLive.com.

Temple's offensive coordinator doesn't flaunt the fact. But he's one of the best and oldest friends of football's best quarterback, Tom Brady.

Which makes a lot of sense. Because 36-year-old Scot Loeffler might be the college game's best teacher of quarterbacks.

“It was obvious this guy was gonna be a great coach someday,” said his former college coach and boss, retired Michigan coach Lloyd Carr. “It was obvious before he even graduated.”

Temple quarterback Mike Gerardi can be excited these days. Because he's the latest prime pupil of Leoffler's in a line that began with the New England Patriots' Brady and extended through the Miami Dolphins' Chad Henne and the Denver Broncos' Tim Tebow. Find a QB with whom Loeffler has worked and you'll hear the gushing of a converted zealot, the contents of a mind melded to Loeffler's.

“Talk to any quarterback Scot's ever coached,” said Carr on Wednesday. “They'll all say the same thing: His meetings are unbelievable. You're gonna learn the game and he makes it fun. His expectations are high. But they're not unrealistic.”

This man found a way to get John Navarre on an NFL roster for two years. Case rested.

Like his friend Brady, Loeffler is a videotape freak. He watches game films not of necessity but because he loves to analyze football. It's why he's as good as he is at his job.

When they became friends back in the late '90s, Loeffler was a Michigan student assistant from the rustbelt area of northeast Ohio whose career had been cut short by a chronic shoulder injury. Brady was a camp mutt from California who idolized the analytical genius of Joe Montana and had used his savvy to vault more heralded Drew Henson into the U-M starting job.

Unable to play any longer, Loeffler was the young Brady's advocate to the coaching staff while he sat below Brian Griese on the Michigan depth chart.

They saw the game the same way. Carr remembers the two of them bonding over the <> knob of a tape editing machine:

“They spent a lot of time watching film together. I think it just built up over time. Eventually it evolved into a great friendship.”

In a break from prep work for Saturday's game with Penn State at Lincoln Financial Field, Loeffler suggested on Thursday he and Brady are pretty much cognitive twins: “We're very similar, to be honest. We think the same way. We love the position the same way. We love to study it. We are overachievers in every sense. And we hit it off from day 1 when he walked in as a true freshman.

Brady in many ways was Loeffler's first protege, his first pupil, even though he was only three years older.

“I was able to begin my coaching career with him,” said Loeffler. “It was a great experience; as much as I was able to give him, he gave to me.

“We talk every three weeks or so and it's the same old Brady and the same old Scot.” To hear Carr tell it, Loeffler might have been Brady had it not been for his shoulder injury. Could he have played at the highest level?

“Oh, yeah,” said Carr. “He was a big guy, 6-3. Had a good arm. And he knew where to go with the ball.

“When he came here, he immediately showed a real maturity. A lot of guys think it's all about what a strong arm you have. They soon find out playing quarterback is about intelligence.

“You're under great time constraints. You have to communicate quickly and efficiently to everybody in that huddle. And then you have to be able to get to the line of scrimmage and change everything.

“You've gotta be smart and study the game. Because before the ball's ever snapped, you have the major responsibility on the whole field.

“He had that from the beginning. He was always one of those guys who knew what to do and could handle everything.”

Carr said it took some persuasion for Loeffler to get his mind around the prospect of no longer playing:

“It wasn't just one meeting. It was a series of meetings. Because he didn't want to accept the fact that he couldn't play. He argued with the doctors and with me. He said, 'Coach, I'm not prepared to give the game up.'

“Finally, the doctors convinced him he needed to face reality, that his shoulder was just not gonna come around.”

Once resolved, he poured all that passion for the game into teaching it.

“I love my job,” said Loeffler. “I love the college game. With all the quarterbacks I've had the opportunity to coach, I've loved recruiting them when they're 16 and seeing them develop them into 22-year-old men when they can apply what you've taught them to the next level.”

So, why in the world is this guy at Temple? Basically because he was in a bind through no fault of his own. He would never be so blunt, but it's true.

Intrigued by the pro game and in need of a landing spot when Carr announced his retirement would be after the 2007 season, Loeffler took a leap of faith.

Unfortunately, the Lions' best quarterback of a motley assemblage of imprinted journeymen was Jon Kitna.

Fired with the entire staff after the Lions' disastrous 0-16 season, he was called by Urban Meyer. Within weeks, he was coaching Tebow. Within months, Tebow was charting career highs in running yards, passing yards and completion percentage.

Then, amid last year's chaos in which UF offensive coordinator Steve Addazio ended up playing three quarterbacks, Meyer decided he was burned out. Will Muschamp was brought in from Texas. Again, Loeffler found himself on a staff that was cut loose.

And this time, the NFL was a dicey option with a lockout looming. The St. Louis Rams had called but Loeffler didn't know if he'd be able to work. He decided to make the safe move and follow Addazio to North Broad Street.

Which is how a guy who's directly coached quarterbacks with over 200 NFL games under their belts is sitting on a staff at Temple and filling the notebooks of the Owls' charismatic north Jersey native Gerardi.

“He's the best teacher I've ever been around,” said Gerardi. “Rather than just tell you and teach you and correct you, he can go out there and actually show you how he wants it done. That's something I haven't been around.

“He's very keen on discipline and staying on-plan. Take what the defense gives.

“Don't go outside the box as far as progressions or do something you haven't practiced or throw to someone you're not supposed to just because you think a guy might be open. Even the best quarterbacks - Brady, Manning, Brees - when they divert from the progression, 7 out of 10 times something bad is going to happen.

“Stick to the plan, stick to the footwork, stick to the progression.”

Sounds like a mind meld in progress.