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James Richard Clausen (born September 21, 1987) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 2010 to 2015. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the second round of the 2010 NFL draft.
After compiling a 1–9 record as the Panthers' starting quarterback during his rookie season, Clausen remained with the team for three more seasons without seeing any game action. He then spent parts of the 2014 and 2015 seasons as a backup for the Chicago Bears and the Baltimore Ravens.
As the younger brother of two former NCAA Division I quarterbacks—Casey Clausen and Rick Clausen, who both played at Tennessee—Jimmy Clausen gained media attention very early. Beginning in eighth grade, his parents paid his tutelage under professional quarterbacks coach Steve Clarkson. During his junior season, a Sports Illustrated feature dubbed him "The Kid with The Golden Arm". Recruiting analysts considered him a "once in a decade" quarterback talent and ranked him as the #1 overall prospect of the 2007 high school class. Because of his quick release, some in the media compared him to Joe Namath.
Critics have questioned whether Clausen's success in high school was largely a product of his team—containing almost a dozen players that went on to play for NCAA Division I Bowl Subdivision teams, including a highly ranked running back, Marc Tyler—and the inferior talent level of its opponents. Many of these critics pointed to the 2007 U.S. Army All-American Bowl in which Clausen was outplayed by fellow 2007 quarterback recruit, Ryan Mallett. Further, Clausen's age is a subject of criticism: he started kindergarten at six and repeated sixth grade, thus he was 19 years old at the time of his early graduation.
On April 22, 2006, Clausen verbally committed to the University of Notre Dame. He was the most highly touted recruit for the Fighting Irish since the arrival of Ron Powlus in 1993. Clausen announced his verbal commitment at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana, after arriving in a stretch Hummer limousine. He also said his goal was to win multiple national titles with the Irish.
Following Notre Dame's opening loss to Georgia Tech in the 2007 season, Clausen was named the starting quarterback, but would win only one of his first six starts (against UCLA) and was replaced by backup quarterback Evan Sharpley during Notre Dame's loss to Boston College on October 13, 2007. Citing non-specific injuries to Clausen (who had been sacked 23 times), head coach Charlie Weis named Sharpley as the starting quarterback for Notre Dame's game against USC on October 20, 2007. After sitting out Notre Dame's losses to USC and Navy, Clausen was again named the starter for their game against Air Force.
Clausen finished his freshman year having completed 56.3% of his passes for 1,254 yards, with 7 touchdowns (plus two rushing TDs) and 6 interceptions and a passing efficiency of 103.85, and he was sacked a team-record 34 times.
During his sophomore season, he completed 60.9% of his passes for 3172 yards, 25 touchdowns and 17 interceptions and a 132.5 efficiency rating which placed him as the 44th ranked quarterback in NCAA Division I FBS. He led the Fighting Irish to a 7–6 record, culminating in a 49–21 victory against Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl — which ended Notre Dame's NCAA-record nine-game bowl losing streak. Clausen set Notre Dame bowl records with 406 yards passing and five touchdowns and was named the bowl's co-MVP.
In his junior season, Clausen was named midseason All-American by Sporting News. He finished the season with 3,722 yards passing, a 68.8% completion rate, 161.42 passer rating, 28 touchdowns, and four interceptions.
On Monday, December 7, 2009, Clausen declared that he would forgo his senior season at Notre Dame and enter the NFL draft following news of the firing of head coach Charlie Weis.
Clausen returned to Notre Dame during the 2011 off-season to finish his degree in sociology.
After just three NFL starts and being pulled in week 5, Clausen was benched after completing 47 percent of his passes with one touchdown and three interceptions. Clausen also fumbled seven times, losing two, and had a 52.2 passer rating. Clausen finished the 2010 season with 157 completions out of 299 attempts (52.5%), 1,558 yards with 3 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He was sacked 33 times and fumbled 9 times, losing two.Yasinkas, Pat. (October 18, 2010) "Panthers to start Matt Moore again"[4] ESPN.com Retrieved October 18, 2010.
In 2011, the Panthers used their number one overall draft pick to select Cam Newton of Auburn. After a four-game preseason competition, Panthers coaches decided that Newton would be named the starter for the 2011 NFL season. Clausen had no improvement over his 2010 regular season performance in the 2011 preseason, finishing 24/46 passing (52.2%) and 260 yards and a 5.70 average with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions and was sacked 7 times in 53 dropbacks and had a quarterback rating of 58.2, similar to his 2010 regular season performance. The Panthers also signed veteran QB Derek Anderson to the team. Clausen was then demoted to third string.
In the 2012 pre-season, Clausen was 19 for 37 (51.4%) 252 yards and two touchdowns and like 2011 never took the field in regular season play. On August 31, 2013, the Panthers waived an injured Clausen. He passed through waivers unclaimed, and ended up on the Panthers' injured reserve list.
On December 17, Marc Trestman announced that Clausen would take over the starting quarterback position from Jay Cutler. Clausen completed 26 of 48 passes for 181 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 77 passer rating in a 20–14 loss to the Detroit Lions. During the game's fourth quarter, Ezekiel Ansah collided with Clausen in a helmet-to-helmet collision. Ansah was penalized and later fined, while Clausen was later diagnosed with a concussion. He relinquished his starting role to Cutler, who played in the Bears' season finale.
On March 6, 2015, Clausen re-signed on a one-year deal. He started the third game of the season against the Seattle Seahawks, completing 9 of 17 passes for 63 yards, and including sacks, recorded 48 net passing yards, the second time since the 1990 season that the Bears had less than 50 net yards passing, as they lost 26–0.
On November 23, 2015, he was waived.
On December 13, 2015, Clausen started against the Seattle Seahawks, replacing the injured Matt Schaub, who was in turn replacing the injured Joe Flacco. Clausen completed 23 of 40 passes for 274 yards, no touchdowns and one interception in a 35–6 loss. He also started in a December 20 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, in which he completed 26 of 45 passes for 281 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions, in the 34–14 loss. Clausen was then benched for Ryan Mallett, who led the Ravens to a 20–17 upset win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers the following week.
On November 22, 2009, Clausen was involved in an altercation outside of a South Bend bar. Sources indicate that Clausen was there with family and teammates following the team's senior day loss to Connecticut. It was reported that upon his departure, Clausen was punched in the face outside of the pub. A South Bend Police Department spokesperson stated that no police report was filed over that weekend involving Clausen. Reports indicate that Clausen was left with a black eye, which was clearly visible in the broadcast of Notre Dame's next football game. A later report of this incident indicated that the other subject involved in this incident allegedly shoved Clausen's girlfriend. It was reported that Clausen then shoved the subject away prior to Clausen being punched.
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