Mel Kiper's Big Board experienced some changes this past week. As I am still not an ESPN Insider, I was only able to read a small amount of commentary and see his Top 5.
I was astounded to see Jimmy Clausen leap ahead of Sam Bradford, projected at the #4 overall pick. I just don't understand the love affair with Clausen! He is getting a free pass when it comes to all of the losing that has been done in South Bend the past 3 years. Notre Dame lost a lot of close games this season, and many of those saw Clausen with the ball late in the 4th quarter, only to be unable to score. This kid had two of the most talented WR's in college football in Tate and Floyd and couldn't pull out enough wins to keep Coach Weis around.
Clausen has some natural ability, that's indisputable. But he seems extremely arrogant and potentially immature. He practically arranged a parade for himself when he announced he would be coming to Notre Dame. He rolled into the NCAA Hall of Fame in a white stretch Hummer and made his announcement in front of the Heisman Winner wall (where his picture will never be included). This past season, he acted like an idiot in the Boston College game and had a little disagreement with Eagles WR Rich Gunnell, interrputing him during a post game interview. Here was Gunnell's version of the story:
"In the beginning of the game, we were warming up, running on the field and [Clausen's] out there chirping and talking all this trash and he pushed, I think, Justin Jarvis. He just pushed him for no reason, and I just looked at him like, 'What are you doing? Who do you think you are?
"He's just sitting there still talking and then afterward, he was trying to be all friendly. I was like, 'I don't want to hear it now.'
"It just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like what he did. It just seemed like he was a little fake toward the end of the game because they won. I know if it was the other end of the stick, he'd probably be saying the same thing to me."
It might just be normal trash talk, or it might be arrogance and poor sportsmanship. I don't like my QB talking pre-game trash - you don't see Tom Brady talking trash in pre-game. You don't see Peyton Manning or Drew Brees talking trash in pre-game.
You also don't see those guys getting punched out by "irate fans" at a bar late at night after a game. The spin on this was that Clausen was sucker punched by an irate fan early in the morning. They made it sound like Clausen was out to breakfast... but I don't think The Linebacker serves breakfast!
NFL scouts are not gullible. And where is this guy that threw the punch? Surely they pressed charges, right? And where were Clausen's teammates? Were they not there to help him? Any way you look at this, Clausen does not look good! At worst, Clausen is a friendless, arrogant wise-ass drunk who got into a fight in a bar late at night and lost. That's where NFL scouts should start the story and then see if they can improve it from there.
What seems hypocritical on Kiper's part is that he dropped Florida DE Carlos Dunlap 14 spots (from #3 to #17) citing "off-field issues". Dunlap was charged with a DUI and will be forced to sit out the SEC Championship game. So this guy drinks and drives and drops 14 spots, but Clausen gets into a late night bar fight and moves up.
Amongst other things, Kiper also claims that Clausen's experience in "dealing with adversity" has helped him improve. Hmm... well maybe he would have had less adversity if he played a little bit better and didn't get into late night scuffles at the bar.
Give me Bradford, Mallett, McCoy, Locker and Pike before I take a chance on a guy that hasn't proven anything in 3 years. Kiper is way off base with this one and if your NFL team listens to him, you're not going to be very happy.
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