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NFL News | April 2, 2010
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Clausen fighting off negative perceptions
By Michael Silver
April 2, 2010
Westlake Village, CA — Jimmy Clausen remembers the precise moment he became aware of his stigma. A few months ago, the ex-Notre Dame quarterback was busy preparing for the NFL future he’d been dreaming of since childhood when Golden Tate, his top collegiate receiving target, sent him a disturbing text message.
Tate had just watched an ESPN SportsCenter segment in which Todd McShay, a draft analyst for the network, was highly critical of Clausen’s leadership skills, claiming the polished passer was not considered a good teammate by other Irish players.
“He was mad,” Clausen said Thursday, recalling Tate’s text over breakfast at the Four Seasons Westlake Village, a luxuriant hotel in the Southern California suburb where he became the nation’s most coveted high school quarterback. “He said something like, ‘If I ever see that Todd McShay … .’ – that type of deal. It was crazy. I didn’t know where it was coming from.”
In a world in which top NFL draft prospects are vetted like U.S. Supreme Court nominees, Clausen understood this was something he couldn’t easily shrug off. In the months that have followed, Clausen has answered questions from potential employers about his perceived personality defects over and over again.
He’ll do so Friday when he meets with new Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan and other team officials at the franchise’s headquarters in Ashburn, Va., and at subsequent visits to the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills, all of which hold top-10 picks they might use on the most polished pro-style passer in the draft.
“Obviously, there’s that perception out there that I’m cocky, arrogant, a bad teammate, a bad leader or whatever,” Clausen said between bites of his egg-white omelet. “It’s kind of hard answering those questions; you don’t want to put yourself at the forefront like that. I say, ‘Go ask my teammates why they voted me captain.’ I’d rather have them talk about it.”
On Thursday, I talked to three of Clausen’s former teammates, all of whom adamantly defended the three-year starter who last season led the Irish to four victories on their final drive of the game.
“Anyone who says that stuff isn’t seeing the same Jimmy that we see,” Tate said of the co-offensive captain. “For me it’s kind of frustrating, because what I see is a guy who’s very passionate about the sport, who works hard and puts his team in position to win. I see him more as a family member than as a teammate.”
Added ex-Irish receiver David Grimes, who played with Clausen in South Bend in ’07 and ’08: “Seeing Jimmy mature from when he came in as a freshman, it’s light years apart. It’s sad to hear this stuff that’s being said. Jimmy’s a great kid. I don’t think anybody who played with him would badmouth the guy.”
That might be a bit of a stretch – I’ve been in enough football locker rooms to know that, when you put scores of highly competitive athletes together on a daily basis, some manifestation of creative tension is inevitable – but I don’t blame Clausen’s supporters for engaging in a bit of hyper-defensive damage control. After all, these days it’s not enough to say, “Look at the game tape and draw your own conclusions.” Remember, this is an era in which an ultra-talented NFL passer like Jay Cutler can be eviscerated by analysts for bad body language, whatever that is.
Clausen seemed like a pleasant kid during our meal Thursday, but that’s hardly an experience from which conclusions can be drawn. What I can tell you is that Clausen put up insanely productive numbers last season in a pressure-packed environment while demonstrating toughness and poise.
It’s also clear that of the four quarterbacks mentioned as top prospects in this draft, Clausen is by far the most NFL-ready. Whereas Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford, who the St. Louis Rams may select with the No. 1 overall pick, Texas’ Colt McCoy and Florida’s Tim Tebow all operated primarily from the spread offense, Clausen played in a pro-style attack for coach Charlie Weis, the former New England Patriots offensive coordinator who now holds that role with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Former Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden, who spent time with all four quarterbacks for an ESPN draft special, was wowed by Clausen’s ability to recognize plays they watched together on film and replicate them on the chalkboard. Gruden’s three-word assessment of Clausen: “Love that guy.”
Some scouts question Clausen’s arm strength, while others believe he’s a dangerous downfield thrower. What no one disputes is his accuracy: Last season Clausen completed 68 percent of his throws, throwing 28 touchdown passes and only four interceptions in 425 attempts. The Irish huddle wasn’t bursting with a slew of talented NFL prospects, particularly on the offensive line and in the backfield, and Clausen accomplished much of this while playing through a pair of torn ligaments in his toe.
“He might be the most accurate thrower in the draft,” said a personnel executive for one AFC team. “I mean, he’s pinpoint accurate. He’d be a great West Coast [Offense] guy.”
A front-office executive for another AFC team had a different take: “He can throw the ball downfield. He’s the perfect Raiders quarterback, what Al [Davis] has been dreaming about for years. I don’t want to like him, but I do. I mean, just look at him – when you see that guy, you just want to punch him.”
That brings us back to the perception of Clausen as, in that same executive’s words, “a punk.” It probably was formed back in high school, when he received massive hype while leading Oaks Christian to a California Division III state title. Choosing Notre Dame, where he became a starter almost immediately, undoubtedly expanded the pool of Haterade.
Clausen, who skipped the spring semester of his senior year of high school to enroll early in college, says part of what motivated him to join the storied program in South Bend was that he thought it would prepare him for the transition to the pros.
“That’s one of the reasons I went there, to best replicate what it was going to be like playing in the pros as a rookie quarterback,” he said. “Notre Dame is one of the top five franchises in all of sports. Just being in the fishbowl, it was a good experience.”
One less-than-enjoyable experience occurred late last season outside a South Bend bar, when Clausen, after sticking up for his then-girlfriend while being heckled by a seemingly drunken patron, was, in fact, punched in the face. (There’s no truth to the rumor that the previously quoted AFC executive was the perpetrator.)
Clausen, who says he has been asked to recount the incident following the UConn loss by every NFL coach, executive and scout with whom he has spoken, did it one more time for me on Thursday: “… The seniors wanted to go out one last time following a home game with their families, and I decided I’d go out, too. A few hours later I decided to leave and I walked out with my arm around my girlfriend at the time. At the front door a drunk fan recognized me and starting yelling and ripping me about the loss and hassling her. I just laughed it off and walked by him, and he just hit me in the side of the face. That was the whole thing.”
Certainly, there are legitimate reasons why players on other teams would detest Clausen. On the field, he’s neither the shy nor retiring type; it’s fair to say he has some Philip Rivers in him.
“A lot of [the perception about Clausen] is because he plays with so much passion,” Tate says. “It appears he’s being an [expletive]. A guy who plays with passion is gonna play with some emotion. If those big guys are out there trying to kill you, and you make a play, you’re gonna go talk some crap.
“The guy’s getting hit back there, he’s under pressure all day. What’s he supposed to do, get up and say, ‘Hey, you hit me – that’s great’? Before one of our games, when he had a bad toe, people [from the other team] came up and stomped on his toe while the music was still playing. So yeah, when he burns you, he’s gonna let you know.”
One former foe who has recently changed his opinion of Clausen is ex-USC safety Taylor Mays. He and Clausen are both represented by L.A.-area agent Gary Wichard and have been working out together on a frequent basis over the past couple of months.
“I thought he was a little bitch,” Mays admitted Thursday. “Before we played him, we watched highlights of him playing in Hawaii in the [2008 Hawaii Bowl], and he [made the aloha sign with his hand]. We wanted to beat the crap out of him.
“He’s still got the same personality, but I know him now, and I like him. He thinks he’s sweet, but he is good – I can’t take that away from him. I can see why his teammates like him. They respect how seriously he takes the game, and they respect his work ethic. I take him seriously, too.”
In less than three weeks, an NFL franchise will take Clausen in the first round, stigma be damned. Then it will be up to 52 new teammates to assess his personality traits and leadership skills.
“I can’t wait,” Clausen says. “Some people told me [the lead-up to the draft] would be the worst time of my life. It really hasn’t been that bad. It’s a dream come true.”
Until then, let’s hope Golden Tate and Todd McShay don’t end up outside any South Bend bars at the same time.
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