NFL 2010 Draft Profile: Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen

You can't blame Notre Dame's disappointing 2009 season on quarterback Jimmy Clausen, after all Clausen did all he could to make the Irish competitive this year. Virtually playing mistake free football, Clausen enjoyed a tremendous junior season, throwing for 3,772 yards and 28 touchdowns while only getting picked off 4 times.

Showing consistency all year, Clausen threw at least one touchdown in every game this season, and only once failed to throw for more than 200 yards. Along the way Jimmy would post some impressive numbers in games against Michigan, Washington, Navy and Stanford. Against Michigan, in Notre Dame's second game of the season, Clausen followed up a 4 touchdown performance on opening week with a 336 yards, 3 touchdown effort. Three weeks later Clausen's 422 yards passing would lead the Irish to victory against Washington. He would top the 400 yard mark once again in a 2 point loss to Navy, when he would throw for a season high of 452 yards. Clausen would then end the regular season with a 5 touchdown effort against Stanford.

His impressive junior season was a substantial improvement over a sophomore season in which he had multiple interceptions in 7 games. Still, by the season ending Hawaii Bowl, Clausen would give an inkling of what was to come when he would lead the Irish to their first Bowl game victory in 15 years by throwing for 401 yards and 5 touchdowns against Hawaii. So accurate was Clausen's passing in that game, that Warriors coach Greg McMackin claimed that including his years in the NFL, Clausen was as accurate a passer as he had ever seen.

After starting for most of his three years at Notre Dame, and throwing for 8.148 yards and 60 touchdowns in 35 games, Clausen announced he would be forgo his senior season to enter the 2010 NFL Draft saying, "I don't think we could have done more than we did this past year. Golden [Tate] has played great. I've done my part. I think this is just the best time for us to go out."

Widely expected to go in the first round of the Draft, there is little doubt that Clausen has the skills and talent to make it at the next level. Among his many attributes, Clausen is an intelligent passer who possesses a strong and accurate NFL caliber arm. What's more, at 6-3, 225 lbs, he is close to the NFL prototype for the position. If enjoys a good combine, there is no reason to believe Clausen won't be one of the top two quarterbacks taken in the 2010 Draft.

Sources:

Coyne, Tom, "Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate head to NFL Draft," The Huffington Post, Dec 7, 2009.

Song, Jaymes, "Fighting Irish end NCAA-record 9-game bowl skid," www.rivals.yahoo.com, Dec. 25, 2008.

www.rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/players/