July 23. 2006 6:59AM
Clausen's glitz could usher in new age at ND
BOB WIENEKE and JEFF CARROLL
Tribune Staff Writers
By 8:15 on the morning of April 22, more than five hours before Notre Dame would play its Blue-Gold Game, almost all of the seats were taken in a second-floor room at South Bend's College Football Hall of Fame.
The front row seats were filled mostly with media members, although a man on crutches sat in one, and a mother with a baby that couldn't have been more than 6 months old occupied another.
Behind the back row were eight TV cameras, some of them capturing live shots. In between, the 40 or so remaining folding chairs were nowhere near enough for the approximately 250 Notre Dame football enthusiasts.
Around the room, Hall of Fame staffers kept their eyes on the door and spoke into walkie-talkies. Every once in a while, one would step onto a platform and perform a microphone check or explain why the scheduled 8:30 press conference/pep rally had yet to start.
At 9:11, it was announced that there was a problem with the sound system. Three minutes later, the first loud cheer of the morning went up when it was relayed that the system was now working.
Not long after, the doors in the back of the room opened and a staffer stepped to the podium to say, "At this point, I'm going to ask Jimmy Clausen to come up and say a few words about his football future."
Moments later, the high school junior, dressed in a charcoal suit, white shirt and muted yellow tie, entered the room to 27 seconds of thunderous applause.
Clausen earned as much attention for what he said that day -- that he would play football at Notre Dame beginning in 2007 -- as he did for the manner in which the morning unfolded.
He arrived at the Hall in a white stretch Hummer limousine, complete with a police escort. When he made his way into the press conference, he was joined by family and friends, as well as a TV crew.
Hollywood, it seemed, had invaded the heartland.
The day before the press conference, L.A. public relations specialist Jeff Freedman sent an e-mail to media informing them that a "major college football recruiting announcement" would be made the next day at the Hall of Fame.
The Los Angeles Times reported that NFL agent Gary Wichard put together the news conference. The paper also reported that Wichard, who said he's a family friend, had Freedman, his former employee, call the College Hall of Fame to make arrangements to use the facility. (Several messages left by the Tribune for both Wichard and Freedman were not returned.)
"That was a little overboard, a little much," one of Clausen's future teammates, incoming ND freshman Paddy Mullen would say later, just another voice in the chorus of reactions to the staged event. "When you have your own PR firm, that's a little ridiculous. He better be good."
If it hadn't been clear before, it certainly was now -- Notre Dame football under coach Charlie Weis was a completely different beast than it had been under the two previous coaching regimes.
And in the aftermath of Clausen's appearance, two oft-asked questions lingered: Where is this all headed? And is it a good thing for the University of Notre Dame?
***
Eighty-eight touchdowns and only 11 interceptions over the last two years. More than 7,000 career passing yards. A 27-0 record as a starting quarterback.
Those numbers have helped Jimmy Clausen earn the three sparkly rings he flaunted during his announcement. A fourth ring is likely to round out his right hand following this season, and then he'd like to start filling his left hand.
"That's what I'm going to come here for," Clausen brazenly said that morning, "to try to get four national championship rings."
If there is a quarterback who has been groomed for the college game, it's the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Clausen. Older brothers Casey and Rick were starters at Tennessee. Jimmy, prior to ever taking a snap in high school, was tabbed the high school football version of LeBron James. And Sports Illustrated featured him under the title, "The Kid with the Golden Arm."
"Hopefully he can be the next LeBron James, OK," Cathy Clausen, the boys' mother, said last winter. "But you never know what's going to happen."
The Clausens have seen that first-hand. Casey, who was highly recruited, had shown interest in Notre Dame only to suffer a perceived snub by then-offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers.
After scoring a game-sealing touchdown against the Irish in a 2001 game at South Bend, Clausen, before returning to the Tennessee bench, stopped, turned toward the Notre Dame sideline, stuck out his No. 7 jersey and stared. When Clausen saw his father, Jim, after the game, the two were both heard saying, "We got 'em. We got 'em back."
"They (Notre Dame) told me I couldn't play here. That was personal, that whole game was personal for me," Casey Clausen said following the game. "The message was relayed to me that (Rogers) said I couldn't play. I would have liked him to tell me himself."
(Rogers that day denied telling Clausen that he couldn't play and said he believed Clausen was in the right system to utilize his skills).
Rick Clausen's career started at LSU before he transferred to Tennessee, where he was a sometime-starter. Irish fans may best remember him for throwing an ill-advised pass during ND's 2004 trip to Knoxville. Irish linebacker Mike Goolsby intercepted the pass and returned it for a touchdown, providing the winning points in a 17-13 Irish victory.
Casey, however, was the older brother who Jimmy tended to follow, according to Cathy. When Casey was a Vol, he would often let Jimmy tag along on the field, in the locker room and during interviews.
"I think the spotlight was kind of on him at a young age, whether he really wanted it or not, just because of having two older brothers that played in college," Casey Clausen said. "I told him, 'Every Friday night when you step on the field, whether you know it or not, people are coming to watch you. For most kids in high school, that doesn't really happen.'æ"
Jimmy Clausen isn't like most kids, although some detractors point to a perceived low level of competition that he plays in high school. Oaks Christian is a school of about 600 students that competes in California's Division 11, the third-smallest division in a state with close to 1,000 high school football teams.
"It's small-school football, but I don't think there's a school in the state of California that can play with them," said Grace Brethren of Simi Valley head coach Terry Gourley, whose team lost to Oaks Christian last season by scores of 48-7 and 49-0. "No one wants to play them."
Gourley's message to his players was to simply appreciate what they had seen.
"I said, 'One day ... you're going to be playing wherever you play or you're going to be remembering high school and you're going to watch this guy and say, 'Hey, we played against that guy and now he's doing it against the next level the same way he did it in high school.' "
Years of grooming are evident. Things like taking the snap from center and footwork are second-nature to Clausen. Then there's the quick release and ability to apply the perfect amount of touch or fire a bullet. And Gourley invoked Peyton Manning's name when describing how Clausen calls plays from the line of scrimmage in a no-huddle offense.
"This whole process has been a preparation for his next level," said Gourley, whose team allowed an average of five points per game outside of its meetings with Oaks Christian. "He looks like a kid that was groomed to be a major quarterback."
As polished as Clausen is, however, Gourley sees room for growth.
"He has very high expectations of his teammates, he has high expectations of the officiating crew," Gourley said. "Whoever gets him is going to have a job, because he's mentally very strong. He's got his own view. Whoever gets him is going to have to deal with that.
"His dad's a strong personality and he's got two older brothers who have proven themselves to whatever degree in college, and his expectation is way beyond that. He'll be a handful in that regard.
"But I'd take it on."
***
In the weeks following Clausen's announcement, numerous anti-Clausen columns popped up in print and online.
And because of that, "Camp Clausen" is closed for the summer.
"Jimmy is not talking to anybody," Jim Clausen said. "If you want to talk about Jimmy Clausen, that ain't happening. It's about the team first. There's been enough stories written about Jimmy Clausen. It's just at this point in time, this is the solution we've come to as a family. I hope people will understand."
What some are still struggling to understand is the glitz and glitter for a teenager who was still a year and a half -- at least -- from taking his first college snap. The limousine that brought the entourage to the Hall of Fame, Jim Clausen said, was used simply because 16 people needed to be transported, although he conceded it may have been a bit over the top. And he agreed that his son needed to be held accountable for some of the Hollywood elements that flooded the announcement.
"He needs to take some responsibility. A lot of this he brought on himself. I wasn't up there flashing rings around," Jim Clausen said. "This is what my son wanted. In the end, I think we've all learned from this. In retrospect, I can understand where certain people took offense."
But?
"Some people took it and ran totally the opposite way," he said.
"We've pretty much made a decision to tone it down. I want Jimmy's play on the field to do all his talking."
Staff Writer Bob Wieneke:
[email protected]
(574) 235-6428
Staff Writer Jeff Carroll
[email protected]
(574) 235-6382