Sir John Yesterdaysnews42@aol.com

 

From Mike Farrell Sporting News (Just in)

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The youngest Clausen is next year's prize

February 15, 2006

 

It's Clausen time. Now that the 2006 recruiting classes have been inked for the most part, the focus will now turn to 2007 and Jimmy Clausen. Clausen, for those who haven't already heard, is the next great signal-caller in college football, a can't-miss kid with enough talent and poise to lead a team as a true freshman. Yes, he's the younger brother of Casey and Rick Clausen, who both played at Tennessee and no, he won't be following in their footsteps. The 6-3, 200-pounder from Oaks Christian High School just Northwest of Beverly Hills, Calif., is the most-hyped quarterback coming out of high school since Ron Powlus. He could try to attain the lofty goals Beano Cook set for young Ron if Clausen heads to South Bend, as well.

 

Clausen has thrown for 88 touchdowns against only 11 interceptions over the last two seasons and has completed more than 67 percent of his passes. He has great footwork, a strong arm, tremendous accuracy and a quick release that would make Dan Marino proud. There's nothing 90210 about Clausen, aside from his blonde hair and blue eyes. This kid is as serious as a heart attack when it comes to football and wants to be the best high school football player ever -- that's right, ever.

 

Before the media crush and coaching stampede become too much in late April and early May, Clausen is expected to choose his school and get the process over with early. Right now it's a three-team race with Notre Dame and Southern Cal holding the edge over South Carolina and Steve Spurrier. Playing for Charlie Weis, the maker of great quarterbacks, is as tempting as staying close to home and slinging the pigskin at USC, but Jimmy's brother Casey, his idol, would like to meet the Spurrier before anything is decided. My best guess has Clausen heading off to Notre Dame and competing for a starting job as a true freshman in 2007. If that happens, someone wake up old Beano. It might be time for another outlandish prediction.

Everyone basically just keeps repeating the same things in the news...

 

Looks like Clausen might be heading to ND.. but USC and SC are still up there

 

I guess nothing will change until they make the announcement

Sir John Yesterdaysnews42@aol.com

 

Good point Shamrock.

 

A couple of points he made one about Ron Pawlus and Clausen.

 

I de recall Ron, who now works for the Athletic Dept of ND was hailed as the second coming. That hype failed on the field. Yes he does have records. I think he passed for 4 touchdowns his first game and bluntly was never really heard from again. Holtz did say "We're going to open the playbook and make him all world."

 

Whether a difference could be made with Charlie vsOld Holtz? I believe I got ill when Ron came back for a fifth year, if memory serves me correctly?

It just REALLY looks like he is ND and I have been told that he already is a domer but until it is official I am gonna be nervous. He is sooo simportant to the future of this unviersity.

Sir John Yesterdaysnews42@aol.com

 

We have another Junior day Friday??? I tried to check SC's Pressers by Spurrier to see when there Junior day to see when it's possible his brother takes him are but kept getting sidetracked. You guys don't know how great we have it with a Weis Presser

Broker, once again I have to disagree

 

While the possible commit of Clausen is nice and would announce to the rest of the world that Notre Dame is back, I don't think it's all that important. Remember, great QBs are made, no recruited. Brady was an "average" quarterback at best when he was recruited.

 

Also, if I recall correctly Clausen is about a year older than his classmates. In my opinion that makes a difference. Additionally, he's been bred to be a QB since he was probably 8 years old. That's a lot of coaching and a lot of preparation in his favor. He should be head and shoulders above anyone else because of what he's had going for him. Once he gets to college, those advantages will be diminished somewhat.

 

On the positive, unlike some QBs he won't need to be taught about coverages, reading the field, audibles, blitzing etc, like a lot of kids don't do out of high school. Kids with as much ability don't get the proper preparation because they're just sooo much better than everyone else.

 

Mixing my fruits, that's why LeBron James was dogged a bit when he came out. He could dribble drive anyone to the hoop in high school. He was being guarded by 6'3 slow white kids that weren't use to playing against NBA type talent. So he never had to develop an outside game (which he's put together this year beautifully).

 

Similarly, that's why Vince Young will not be all that in the NFL. He's shown the ability to make a read or two and then he's off to the races. That won't cut it in the NFL. Mack Brown tried to teach him how to run an offense and finally realized it couldn't be done and wasn't worth it.

 

All that being said, it sounds like JC knows that he needs to soak up everything he can from his coaching and that he can't rely purely on his ability to survive. If that's true I don't know why he would go anywhere but Notre Dame.

 

The worst part about it was that I heckled the hell out of his brothers when they were in college.

blue as always I disagree

 

I do not care if JC ever throws a pass, if he does then thats a plus. JC will be the rest recruiting coordinator ever! He is going to bring us a ton of talent and will make everyone look at ND as if its the place to be. Just polishing the golden dome, making it shine more than it already does. If we land JC it will effect this class and for that reason alone he is "so important to the future of this university"

I agree! Clausen brings more than just all-world skill. He will bring in more athletes and that is what ND needs. If we land Clausen,Benn and Tyler are pretty dead set to follow! It was unfair for this idiot writer to bring up Beano Cook and Powlus. Makes it sound like he is trying to tell Clausen that the expectations for him coming to Notre Dame would be too much for him to handle. I think the expectations will be high when he gets to Notre Dame but they would be high if he turned weirdo and went somewhere else as well. Once again I have no doubt Clausen is Irish!

maybe it's more phrasing than anything else... i agree he'll be nice for recruiting, but i'm not pining all or any of my hopes on just one kid... i find banking our UNIVERSITY'S future on an 18 year old to be stupid... is clausen incredibly important to this recruiting class, yes... to the football team? somewhat important (i think frazer or jones can do the job)... to the University? hell no, sorry...

 

there have only been 8 or so people in the athletic realm that have been that important to the University as a whole: Knute, Moose, Joyce, Ara, Lou? Maybe you throw Sweaty Teddy in the group, although I think we'd all agree he's an academic, not athletic figure.

 

Not sure about Leahy, Devine, etc.

Yeah blue, I couldn't disagree with you more. After agreeing with you the other day, this sounds alot more normal to say.

 

Clausen means SOOOOOOOOO much to this class. Not only for his own abilities that he brings but you can guarantee that where Jimmy goes so will a bunch of the top rated talent. They WILL follow him. And if you think that is not true than you are kidding yourself.

 

He is VERY important in so many ways. A miss on Jimmy and it is a monster of a loss for this class.

BG, add Marvin Austin to that list of guys that would follow him to Notre Dame. If Benn comes to ND than Austin probably won't be too far behind. Landing him and Andre Jones as DT's would be Huuuuuge.

but you really think that it's THAT important to the university? again, people said ron was that important to the university, he didn't pan out like all thought he would, and the university got by just fine...

I think Weis is THAT important to the University... the morale on campus is at a high when for the past few years it wasn't what it used to be

 

Weis is turning things around for us

Blue I would put Leahy a notch below Rockne on that list but ahead of everyone else! No matter how much emphasis Notre Dame puts on the academics It is a football school. The major source of revenue for the school comes from its football program. When Notre Dame is doing well on the field money is up in the bank account and that is a concrete no disagreement fact. Who was the last President or CEO of a company to graduate from Notre Dame? Who was the quarterback of the 1988 National Championship team? I guarantee Tony Rice entered your brain first!

Weis could be that important.

 

In my opinion for an athletic figure to become that important to the University he or she must become an ambassador to the country or world, irregardless of sports. Knute single handedly put Notre Dame on the map. Moose kept us there over decades. Joyce ran the athletic department for years. Ara has always been a huge Notre Dame guy.

 

Really, I think it's virtually impossible for a player to become that big, at least not until his playing days are over.

blue, but for the player bit where a player could never become that big, wouldnt you consider someone like Hornung, Montana, or even Givens that shows recruits that if you go to a school like ND, you can win a superbowl id consider them big for that reason, and if i where a recruit, and my goal was to become an nfl star, than id go to a school where it has good history with nfl championships, or maybe recent success in the nfl