Now that spring practice has come and gone, I’m going to take a look at each position and analyze where Notre Dame is at and how certain players performed this spring and in the Blue-Gold game. First up will be quarterbacks since that’s the most talked about position.
Jimmy Clausen – No early enrollee may have ever had more eyes watching themselves during a spring practice season than Clausen did this year. Even teams sites who don’t play Notre Dame this year have been reporting on Clausen. His spring started off a little controversial with Armando Allen telling a local paper that Jimmy had bone chips in his elbow prior to spring. Weis dismissed those rumors and Clausen didn’t miss a beat this spring.
In the Blue-Gold game we didn’t get to see much of his famed accuracy because he only had seven pass attempts, but what we did see was a very mature quarterback for someone in their first semester of college. Outsiders have been pointing to his 3 for 7 performance as a sign he isn’t all he’s hyped to be. Well, most of those people are reporting based on a box score. What I saw from Clausen during the Blue-Gold game was a quarterback that didn’t get rattled by pressure and didn’t make the dumb mistakes freshman tend to make.
He may have only completed 3 of his seven passes, but he protected the ball better than any of the other three quarterbacks did during the Blue-Gold game and just didn’t look like a freshman.
Evan Sharpley – Sharpley had some troubles handing off the ball and had a couple mental mistakes, but he also moved the offense the most consistently on Saturday. It’s pretty clear that Sharpley has the best understanding of the offense from having the most time in it. I’m not quite sure he has the most command in the huddle though – that distinction might go to Clausen.
Despite being the most experienced quarterback of the group, Sharpley had two of the more costly “rookie” mistakes when he botched a handoff and then took a sack with no timeouts left at the end of the first half with Notre Dame in scoring range. The sack most likely would not have occurred if their was live hitting on the quarterbacks, but mistakes like that will drive a coach – especially an offensive minded coach like Weis – absolutely crazy. The mistake also drove honorary coach Lou Holtz a little crazy too.
Sharpley proved this spring what most felt going in – he is a solid quarterback who can be effective, but he is most likely not the kind of quarterback who is going to come in and throw a team on his shoulders.
Demetrius Jones – As expected Jones looked shaky throwing the ball at times as he was the least polished pure passer of the group, but he flashed the speed that has most Irish fans very intrigued. Jones took off on a 31 yard scramble in the second half that got the crowd on their feet. Jones also had the distinction of throwing the only touchdowns of the game – one to Robby Parris and another to safety David Bruton who returned a Jones interception for a touchdown in the first half.
Like the other quarterbacks, I saw pretty much exactly what I expected from Jones – an incredible athlete who is capable of some huge plays but is not fully developed as a passer. His touchdown pass to Parris came on a play where his arm was hit making Parris adjust to the ball in the air. Jones, like Sharpley, also had trouble with a handoff exchange.
Jones’s speed and athleticism, however, is clearly something that he has a huge edge in over the other quarterbacks and that should keep him in the race for the long haul.
Zach Frazer – Frazer had the dubious distinction of being the only quarterback of the four to not complete a pass – unless you count his completed pass to safety Ray Herring in the first half. Reports all spring were that Frazer may have been trailing the other three quarterbacks and the Blue-Gold game didn’t do much to dispel those rumors or elevate him above any of the other quarterbacks.
He did have some good zip on a couple of his passes, but overall he didn’t move the offense that well and is very likely on the outside looking in right now heading into fall camp.
Analysis – If I had to guess who the two finalists would be heading into fall camp right now, I would say Clausen and Jones. Both are completely different quarterbacks and both seem to have the highest ceilings among the four in the race. The maturity that Clausen seems to have at this very early stage in his career is in a word impressive. Likewise the pure athleticism and play making of Jones is dually impressive.
I think heading into the season the play of the offensive line and receivers could play a role in how this quarterback race plays out as well. If the line can’t be dominate or close to it and the receivers have a hard time getting open, Jones could end up starting because he will have the ad lib ability to make plays with his feet and elude the rush.
If the line does gel, however, and has the ability to take control of games – something I think they will be able to do – then I could easily see Clausen starting from day one. Give him another couple months and a full fall camp to really learn this offense and I think we’re going to see a very impressive quarterback.
