New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is scheduled to speak at Salem State University Thursday amid discussion surrounding his possible involvement in “deflategate.”
He arrived on campus via helicopter around 5:30 p.m., two hours before he was scheduled to speak to a sold out crowd of 4,000 people.
There will reportedly be a question-and-answer segment of Brady’s speech, but questions had to be submitted online weeks ago, and he will only answer a few selected questions.
It is unlikely Brady will answer any questions on the deflategate controversy, but hours before the event, students on campus weighed in on the issue.
“Likes to throw the ball a certain way, so I think that’s why it happened, I mean, I don’t think it was really malicious, if you know what I mean,” said student Matt Bagnall.
“Tom Brady’s a good player. He has his way of how to talk. He’ll say what he wants to say, I mean, nobody’s really questioned him on that,” said student Bailey Eastwood.
“I’m not even sure, is he even going to show up? That’s what I heard, that he might not even show up, but I don’t know. It might be kind of interesting to hear about it, how it goes here. Surprised that he’s here, actually, of all places,” said student Hailey Thibodeau.
A school spokeswoman said Brady was appearing as part of a speaker series that has been going on for decades.