College Career
Clausen, who graduated from high school one semester early, enrolled at Notre Dame on January 16, 2007. In Notre Dame's only preseason practice open to the media, Clausen threw only a number of short passes, casting some doubt on the strength of his arm after off-season elbow surgery.
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 1254 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 places him as the 44th ranked QB in Division 1-A football. He led the Fighting Irish to a 7-6 record, culminating in a 49-21 victory against Hawaii in the Sheraton Hawai'i 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 October 2009, Clausen was named midseason All-American by The Sporting News. His 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.
Clausen returned to Notre Dame during the 2011 off-season to finish his degree in sociology.
Read more about this topic: Jimmy Clausen
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