Jimmy Clausen hums a new tune at Notre Dame
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Quarterback has felt spotlight's glare since arriving at South Bend -- in a limo. He, and Irish, have been burned at times, with things not going as well as expected for him, his team or his coach.
When Jimmy Clausen made a trip to Notre Dame in 2006, he announced his verbal commitment with Hollywood flair, arriving at the news conference in a stretch Hummer limousine.
The flamboyance raised some eyebrows and made the glare of the spotlight on him even hotter. At the time, most experts considered the Westlake Village Oaks Christian High product the nation's top quarterback prospect -- and the focus of an intense recruiting battle between the Fighting Irish and USC.
"I just wanted to get away from California, just grow up in a different place," Clausen said this week of his decision to attend Notre Dame. "I just wanted to be away for a few years, and I'll probably go live in California in the future. But just to get away and come to Notre Dame and be here, be coached by Charlie Weis, and just have something special here at Notre Dame."
But the experience he surely envisioned at the time has hardly gone according to script. The Irish, 6-5 this season, have lost 14 games in his two seasons and the coach Clausen came to play for is fighting for his job.
Today, Clausen is back in Los Angeles to face USC for the first time. He started nine games and played in 10 last season as a freshman, but did not play in a 38-0 loss to USC or a 46-44 triple-overtime loss against Navy.
True to form, his actions leading up to the game have been noteworthy. During his weekly news conference, Clausen said of the 9-1 and fifth-ranked Trojans: "To be honest, they really don't like Notre Dame and don't really respect Notre Dame. I think Notre Dame respects USC like they should any team. But it's a great rivalry."
Clausen will see a lot of familiar faces on the opposing sideline today -- he said he knows about half of USC's players. One of them, reserve tailback Marc Tyler, a high school teammate of Clausen's, fired a salvo of his own this week, telling The Times: "Hopefully he'll leave here walking. I hope he makes it out of the Coliseum alive."
Clausen took Tyler's comments with a laugh.
"He doesn't play defense so he's not going to knock me out or anything like that," Clausen said.
But all kidding aside, USC's No. 2-rated defense will be a big test for Clausen and the young Irish offense, giving them a chance to show how far they have come under the tutelage of Weis.
After last year's 3-9 season -- in which Clausen passed for 1,254 yards and seven touchdowns with six interceptions -- Notre Dame seemed to have turned a corner earlier this season.
