Don't know how many of you know of Clemens, or have even heard of him. This kid is from U of O, and grew up in Burns, Oregon. Now I live in BFE, and Burns is like Bum F*** Timbuktu (pop 3,500, 6 hours SE of Portland, 4 hours from Boise, 8 hours from Reno), closer to nowhere than anywhere. I watched this kid in HS, and it was like a man amongst boys. Best HS football player I have ever seen. He could of beat us playing with 8 guys and us with the full 11.
I thought he was better prospect that Joey Harrington, and he did just as much at U of O with a lot less talent. If not for a broken leg against Arizona, he would have gone much higher. Don't know if Jaws is right, but I really hope it works for him.
http://www.nypost.com/sports/jets/68516.htm May 13, 2006 -- Ron Jaworski knows quarterbacks. He was a pretty good one in college, carved out a solid NFL career, and takes a lot of pride in his breakdown of QBs in his current role as an ESPN analyst.
Ask him about Kellen Clemens, the Jets' second-round pick out of Oregon, and you might be inclined to jump out of your shoes if you're a Jets fan.
"I watched every game of his college career, every throw he made, and based on game performance I had him rated No. 1 amongst the quarterbacks in this draft," Jaworski said of Clemens in a phone interview with The Post. "I looked at one game and put my evaluation down and then looked at another and another, and as time went on I was blown away.
"One thing I heard about the guy is that he's only 6-15/8. To that my next question was, 'Did you see the guy play?' "
Clemens yesterday was unveiled in a Jets uniform for the first time, wearing No. 6 as the club began its weekend rookie mini-camp at Hofstra.
Asked about his aspirations about being the Jets' starting quarterback, Clemens said, "I'd love to someday, but right now I've got a lot of work to do before I can really go out and contribute the way the Jets need to me to."
Asked to describe himself as a quarterback, Clemens said, "A team leader sort of guy, a competitor. I try not to talk about me too much."
Naysayers are quick to point out that Clemens is only about a half-inch taller than Brooks Bollinger, the third-string QB who became the Jets' starter last year when Chad Pennington and Jay Fiedler were lost for the season in Week 3.
"It's not even close between [Clemens] and Bollinger and I don't mean to demean Brooks, because he can be a serviceable backup in this league," Jaworski said. "But Clemens is about 20 pounds heavier than Bollinger, has a much stronger arm, and has really strong legs and can break tackles. He doesn't go down easily."
Clemens was a more prolific passer in college than Bollinger, who was more a threat with his legs than his arm.
"[Clemens] has a quick release, a strong arm, can make multiple throws, does a great job processing information and finding the open receiver, has the anticipation you need," Jaworski said. "All of those things were there. The one negative I saw was I didn't think he was consistent enough with the deep ball.
"I saw nothing but upside. I had him at No. 1, ahead of [Matt] Leinart, [Jay] Cutler and [Vince] Young and everyone else until I saw the [NFL] Combine tapes and was concerned, because he wasn't healthy. That put up a little red flag."
Clemens, who missed the last several games of the 2005 season with a broken left fibula and wasn't 100 percent at the Combine, said yesterday that he's fine, recovered and ready to go.
"All the intangibles are there," Jaworski said. "I talked to a number of coaches that worked him out and put him to the chalkboard and they were blown away by him. Seven or eight NFL head coaches said, from the neck up, this guy is best guy in the draft."
