Notre Dame, IN (UHND) – Jimmy Clausen’s off-season conditioning was interrupted by elbow surgery last year and as a result, he started off last year weighing just 194 pounds. After taking the beating associated with being sacked 34 times in his nine starts, Charlie Weis instructed his developing quarterback to bulk up this off-season. According to Weis at his Wednesday press conference, so far so good.
Last year’s media guide listed Jimmy Clausen’s weight at 207 pounds,, but according to what Weis said on Wednesday, his weight was quite a bit less. “Last year, (he) started off at 194 and he’s walking in at 212 for the first day of training camp. That is obviously a significant gain. His body fat is status quo but has a lot more lean muscle,” said Weis.
What exactly Clausen’s weight was last year compared to what it actually is this year is anyone’s guess since “official” weights in football are about as accurate as Vince Young’s Wonderlic test. The bottom line though, is that Clausen has put in the time needed to bulk up in the weight room this off-season and he should begin to see the benefits since his work this spring as he sees the large majority of the snaps.
“Last year in the off-season, he (Clausen) wasn’t really lifting weights for his upper body,” Weis told the media. “He was just doing stuff for his lower body, so now his whole body — when you look at him, you will see, it’s an obvious difference when you look at him physically.”
With Evan Sharpley enjoying a breakout season on the Notre Dame baseball team, Clausen will be seeing the majority of the snaps under center this spring. The extra snaps will be a great aid in his development, but at the same time, Weis will need to keep a watch on Clausen so that his arm doesn’t get over worked.
“Every rep that he can take is a meaningful rep. He can’t take enough as far as I’m concerned,” said Weis before adding, “ He can take every one if he can physically handle it, because every rep he makes will be that much more progress we can make from him.”
Weis warned though, “There comes a stage in practice or time in practice where you can throw too much, and I think that that’s a fault that a lot of young, inexperienced quarterbacks have, they will throw forever and all of a sudden wear their arm out.”
Considering Clausen had his elbow procedure last year, you can bet Weis will have the Notre Dame training staff keep a close eye on Clausen’s elbow and arm to make sure he isn’t over straining this spring.
As long as his arm holds up, the extra reps this spring will allow Clausen to work on all aspects of his game including some of the less talked about nuances just as protecting the football. “Sometimes people look at that as a physical aspect, but sometimes you throw an interception because you’re careless or you turn the ball over because you’re careless or a ball gets tipped because you’re careless,” said Weis.
Everyone will be interested to know if the added weight has added any velocity to Clausen’s throws, and early reports are that he does have an extra “zip” on the ball, but as Weis mentioned, the real benefit of the additional snaps will be the work Clausen gets on the finer points of quarterbacking. This is a kid who’s had a personal quarterback coach since middle school so the physical aspects of throwing and mechanics are fairly well engrained in him already.
When he had time to throw the ball last year, Clausen generally made a lot of sound decisions. His biggest problem, however, was dealing with the pass rush and holding onto the ball too long. There were many times when he would take a sack when he could have easily thrown the ball away because he wasn’t used to anywhere close to the amount of pressure he saw last year. “We have been working on the mental aspect more than anything else here in the off-season,” said Weis of where he is expecting to see improvement out of Clausen this spring.
This is a very important spring for Clausen, especially with talented freshman Dayne Crist coming to campus this summer, and the additional reps he will be receiving combined with his work in the weight room this off-season will go a long way in his development.
