Clausen keeping draft on back burner

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SOUTH BEND – Jimmy Clausen thinks about the NFL draft when he needs motivation.

It’s not the draft this April the Notre Dame quarterback thinks about, though, or the 2011 draft following what would be his senior season. It’s the 2004 draft.

That’s when he sat with his oldest brother, Casey, in their Westlake Village, Calif., home and watched for hours as the names of 17 quarterbacks were called by NFL teams. Casey was never picked even though he ranks only behind Peyton Manning on Tennessee’s passing list. The family was numb afterward.

“I looked at him and told him, ‘Don’t let this happen to you,’” Casey recalled.

It’s a moment Jimmy Clausen recalls often.

“That’s something I’ll never forget until the day I die. When I work out in the offseason, each and every day I think about that,” he said. “When we’re running gassers, and I’m so tired I just want to lay down and grab some water, I think about that and run an extra one, run two extra. When I’m in the weight room, I think about that all the time.

“I don’t want that to happen to me.”

Until Notre Dame’s 23-21 loss to Navy last Saturday, the hottest topic around South Bend wasn’t whether coach Charlie Weis would be back next year but whether Clausen would. The 22-year-old junior who expects to complete his sociology degree in May is being projected by many as a first-round pick.

Clausen, though, said he hasn’t thought much about whether he will leave Notre Dame early, saying he knows that sounds hard to believe.

“I’m just worried about the next day, the next game,” he said.

Weis said he’s not thinking about it either. He plans to check with his NFL sources to determine where Clausen will likely be taken, then talk with Clausen and his family in December.

“It isn’t like I have any idea of what’s on his mind. He has no idea what’s on my mind,” Weis said. “We’ll talk.”

Clausen said watching his backup, Dayne Crist, sustain a season-ending knee injury two weeks ago on a play where he was barely touched or Oklahoma’s Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford sustain a season-ending shoulder injury after opting not to enter the draft won’t influence his decision.

“You can’t be worried about things down the road, things in the past,” he said.

Some might view the statement by Casey as placing a heavy burden on his little brother. Clausen doesn’t feel that way.

“To be honest, I have fun with it. People always say there’s a lot of pressure on me, but I don’t think I’d want it any other way. I don’t know any other way,” he said.

He said he’s focused this week on No. 8 Pittsburgh (8-1), which provides Clausen a chance to post the biggest victory of his career.

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