
At first glance, Jimmy Clausen and Brady Quinn don’t appear alike at all. One is a character created by J.R.R. Tolkien and the other is dating really, really good looking Olympic gymnasts. Dig deeper, and you’ll find the two have more similarities than meets the eye.
Firstly, Quinn and Clausen were both nationally acclaimed quarterbacks at Notre Dame. They put up some solid numbers and both were in Heisman conversations at one point or another. They both failed to win any big games and had a human version of Jabba the Hut as a coach. Then, after being talked up by the media prior to draft day, they both slid dramatically from where all the “experts” thought they would be taken. Clausen slid so far (to 48th overall) that he hit the concrete sidewalk hundreds of yards past the bottom of the slip-n-slide. That’s what you get for showing up for your first day at college in a Hummer stretch limousine with a villainous smirk and proclaim you would win multiple titles. Let the record show Notre Dame won zero during his tenure and didn’t even come close...though they did win the Hawaii Bowl!

So, the question remains, will all the similarities between Quinn and Clausen translate into the pros? Quinn hasn’t done much of anything except promote some sort of protein drink and he currently sits behind Kyle Orton- the man more famous for his neck beard than play on the field- on Denver’s depth chart. Will Clausen, even though he has a lot of “talent” end up the same way? Or will his skills be able to overpower his cockiness in the NFL?