Jimmy Clausen
From NCAA College Football Information & Resource
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Jimmy Clausen (born James Richard Clausen on September 21, 1987 in Thousand Oaks, CA) plays quarterback for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the NCAA college football tournament. After a highly successfull high school career at Oaks Christian High School, Clausen entered the realms of collegiate football as the top quarterback prospect in the nation and has been dubbed as the most polished playcaller in the West in a long while. Inheriting the spot left by 2006 Maxwell and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Awardee Brady Quinn, Clausen however failed to fill in those big shoes as Notre Dame sustained its first losing season in the Charlie Weis era and its worst turnout in over four decades.
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Personal Life
James Richard is the son of Jim and Cathy Clausen. Clausen's older brothers, Casey and Rick, have also played the same position as his when they were in college. The former was a four-year starter at Tennessee while the latter played for both LSU and Tennessee. All three of the Clausen quarterbacks were personally coached by Steve Clarkson, the same man who worked with pro quarterbacks Matt Leinart, J.P. Losman, and Ben Roethlisberger. Jimmy has had a close look at the college football life years before he actually got to experience it as he attended many games, went to meetings, visited the locker room after games, and attended press conferences during his brothers' playing days at Tennessee. He started kindergarten at the age of six and repeated sixth grade. His Oaks Christian teammate Marc Tyler, son of former UCLA and NFL rusher Wendell Tyler, lived with the Clausens for two years in Thousand Oaks near Westlake Village since Wendell lived more than an hour away in Lancaster, Calif.
Months before making his debut with Notre Dame, Clausen was cited for illegally transporting alcohol outside of a liquor store in South Bend, Indiana on the 23rd of June. He was driving someone who was of legal drinking age to a liquor store to buy two bottles of vodka, a bottle of whiskey and a case of beer. He was actually waiting outside the store with an unnamed Notre Dame freshman. According to published reports, Clausen entered a pre-trial diversion program which will erase the citation if he stays out of trouble for the next 12 months.
High School
Clausen played for coach Bill Redell at Oaks Christian High School, a small coed private school in Westlake Village, California. As a sophomore, Clausen went 227-for-329 for 3,665 yards with 58 TDs and six interceptions. A year later, he posted 2,778 passing yards on 156-of-231 completion rate with 30 TDs and only five interceptions as a junior and was dubbed as “The Kid with The Golden Arm” in a Sports Illustrated feature. By then, he has already gained interest from several collegiate scouts and recruiting analysts have already considered him as the top prospect for the 2007 high school class. During this period, Oaks Christian has also dominated the California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section Division XI championship and have breezed through their playoff competition with an emphatic 217 to 14 score.
During his senior year, he once again called the plays for the Lions all the way to the state championship where Oaks Christian defeated Cardinal Newman High, 27-20 in overtime, finish the season with a #6 overall ranking in the USA Today national polls, claim the school's fourth consecutive CIF-Southern Section championship, and improve the team's winning streak to 46 which turns out to be the longest in section history. After the Lions went on to win the Division III state bowl game, CalHiSports.com named Oaks Christian as the 2006 state team of the year after it became only the second team in California history to finish a season with a 15-0 record.
Clausen capped his high school career with 10,764 passing yards and a state record 146 TD passes with a 67.8 percent completion rate (one of the best in the nation in high school history according to the National Federation of High School sports record book). He also went unblemished in 42 games as a starter and bagged several prestigious individual recognitions that include the Hall Trophy or also known as the Ball Park National High School Player of the Year Award (previously won by Kevin Jones, Chris Leak, Adrian Peterson, and Mitch Mustain), the USA Today Offensive Player of the Year, the Touchdown Club of Columbus' National High School Offensive Player of the Year Award, and the Parade Co-Player of the Year award. Clausen, who was also named finalist for the Sam B. Nicola award for the top high school player of the year, also reaped several team honors that include first team All-America citations from Parade and Scout.com aside from being named one of the top 20 players in Long Beach Press-Telegram's Best in the West list, one of the 11 quarterbacks in Fort Worth Star-Telegram's National 100 list, and one of the top 50 high school seniors by Street & Smith's (also named Clausen as one of the seven quarterbacks in the All-America Team).
He concluded his sterling high school career with a spot at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl game, starting for the West team that featured the likes of Chris Galippo, Joe McKnight, and Marc Tyler. During this game however, Clausen was outplayed by fellow 2007 quarterback recruit, Ryan Mallett.
College
Ranked by Rivals.com as the top prospect in the nation, the #4 national prospect by SuperPrep, and the #1 quarterback in the country and #9 prospect on the ESPN 150 list, Clausen gave his verbal commitment to Notre Dame on the 22nd of April 2006 to become the most acclaimed recruit for the Fighting Irish since the arrival of Ron Powlus in 1993. He made his oral commitment during a news conference at the College Football Hall of Fame where he came with a 16-person entourage of friends and family on a stretch Hummer limousine, wearing a white fur coat with multiple rings on his fingers, even suggesting that he'd be winning national titles with the Irish. His announcement met negative feedbacks from the press with columnists from Los Angeles to Georgia suggesting "Clausen actually take a snap in spring ball before getting measured for title rings."
Clausen graduated a semester early in high school to enroll at the University of Notre Dame on the 16th of January 2007, becoming the first Irish quarterback to enroll in January. He competed with junior Evan Sharpley and sophomore Demetrius Jones for the playcalling position during spring practices. He also underwent arthroscopic surgery on his throwing shoulder during spring to remove a bone spur.
2007
Coach Charlie Weis kept Notre Dame's offensive gameplan a secret prior to the team's season opener against Georgia Tech, which meant that the starting QB was only revealed during the actual game. Weis started out with Jones but the running quarterback had little success, forcing him to insert Sharpley and then later on Clausen. The Yellow Jackets however seemed to be prepared for all three QBs as their defense held the Irish offense to a measly three points, the worst output for Notre Dame since Weis' take over. Clausen's collegiate game debut ended with a 4-of-6 completion for 34 yards. The following week @ Penn State, Clausen became the first Notre Dame freshman quarterback to start for the Irish since Quinn got the call on September of 2003. He finished with a pretty decent 17-of-32 passing for 144 yards and an interception with his best drive coming in the fourth when he nearly led the team to a touchdown. Against Michigan, Clausen once again got the starting nod but the Irish offense never got going as the Wolverines blanked them, 38-0 for the team's worst loss since 2003 when they lost in the same lopsided score. Clausen finished the game going 11-of-17 for just 74 yards and an interception with seven sacks and was eventually relieved by Sharpley in the fourth quarter. Against Michigan State, Notre Dame finally scored its first touchdowns of the season but still suffered a 14-31 loss to the Spartans. Clausen went 7 of 13 for 53 yards and was once again relieved by Sharpley in the final quarter. Clausen was also sacked for a 17-yard loss and was stripped of the football. In the Purdue game, Clausen was finally able to tally his first touchdown pass but did not finish the game after suffering a hip injury. He ended the game with his second 100-yard passing game (169) on 18 of 26 completion. Against UCLA at the Rose Bowl, Clausen scored on a quarterback sneak for the go-ahead in the third quarter and the Irish finally held on for its first win of the season. He was 17 of 27 for 84 yards as he and the rest of the Irish prevented the already worse slump in Notre Dame football history.
Against the undefeated Boston College team, Clausen was ineffective with his 7-for-20 passing for 60 yards with two pick-offs and did not finish the 14-27 loss to the Eagles. With 23 sacks already across his name Clausen, said to have suffered a non-specific injury, was relieved off the starting duties in lieu of Sharpley for the USC game which the Irish lost via shut-out. He also sat out the 44-46 loss to Navy before returning in the starting line-up for the Air Force game. Despite a loss to the Falcons, Clausen turned out one of his most productive games after establishing career highs in every passing category (22 completions, 40 attempts, 246 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs), even going 17-of-29 for 192 yards with two touchdowns in the second half. In the senior game against Duke, Clausen threw for 194 yards (16-of-32) and tied a season high of three touchdowns as the Irish notched only its second win of the year. In the season finale, Notre Dame grind it out with Stanford and escaped with a 21-14 win with Clausen scoring on a 2-yard sneak with a 19-of-32 completion with 1 interception.
Clausen capped his maiden collegiate campaign with 1,254 yards on 138 for 245 passing with 7 TDs, 6 INTs, and a team-record 34 sacks.
Career Stats
| Passing | ||||||||||
| Year | Cmp | Att | Yds | Cmp% | Ypa | Lng | TD | Int | Sack | Rat |
| 2007 | 138 | 245 | 1254 | 56.3 | 5.12 | 44 | 7 | 6 | 34 | 103.85 |
Highlights
| Jimmy Clausen talks to the media after the team's spring practice (from IrishIllustrated.com). |
Achievements
High School
- Best in the West list compiled by the Long Beach Press-Telegram (1 of 20 players)
- First Team All-America (Parade and Scout.com)
- Hall Trophy (Ball Park National High School Player of the Year Award)
- National 100 list by Fort Worth Star-Telegram (1 of 11 QBs)
- National High School Offensive Player of the Year Award from the Touchdown Club of Columbus (Ohio)
- Parade Co-Player of the Year
- USA Today Offensive Player of the Year
References
- Clausen just one part of talented Westlake team that seeks another title
- Jimmy Clausen ESPN.com Profile
- Jimmy Clausen Notre Dame Profile
- Jimmy Clausen Scout.com Profile
- Jimmy Clausen Wikipedia
