Originally posted by ninerfan:
Originally posted by nickbradley:
Among all the other top QBs for 2010, I believe Clausen is the only one who runs a pro-style offense -- Spread QBs make me nervous.
Based on what I've been reading about the leadership role he's taken on this offseason and his bowl performance, I have a feeling he's going to break out and fulfill the hype he came in with.
Based on his experience running an NFL playbook at Notre Dame, I think NFL teams could push this guy above Bradford.
Thoughts?
While running the pro style offense is a plus I'm not sure that Clausen has what it takes to come into the NFL and be a top QB. My reason for feeling this way is due to the fact that it's taken him a while to even scratch the surface on his potential/hype in the Notre Dame program. Yeah he's had decent numbers but with the talent he had around him last year (notre dame always has talent) he should have been able to do more. Bradford on the other hand is just a winner, he's got the numbers too (spread offense?). Either way I think Bradford has the most potential for success at the pro level. That's my thought, but we all know that college success doesn't mean NFL success (ie. Alex Smith)
There was little to no talent his freshman year. He was sacked over 50 times. The OL was horrid.
Last year the offense started to take off with freshman Michael Floyd showing some serious potential and why he was one of if not the best WR recruit in the country. However the OL did not help out, while they did a MUCH better job of keeping him clean they could not run block well or keep from getting flagged. Again the defense proved problematic and Clausen had a rough 2nd half compared to a good 1st half.
This year he has again shown great strides in improving and really became a vocal leader but the Defense still proves problematic. He now is playing with turf toe (big toe and one next to it) has lost Floyd to a broken collarbone and did not even have his starting RB who was also injured yet he managed to lead the team to a great final drive comeback win.
As a religious Notre Dame fan I can tell you that saying he has not taken advantage of the talent is simply not true. The talent around him has developed slowly for the most part and a QB can't develop quickly if the talent around him is undeveloped and prone to making lots of mental mistakes. The defense takes a huge part of the blame for the team not winning more games not to mention Charlie Weis has not been a great head coach. He is a great offensive mind but seems out of his element as a HC.