This post is just not thought out. First of all you say you cant go from a 6-6 season to a first round draft pick. So its better to play 3 games like Bradford did, have a major injury and bypass a year of eligibility? How does your thought make any sense? Bradford didnt even play and got the #1 pick. Obviously your theory is way off here.
Second of all, you say JC doesnt have the maturity to runa pro offense. While I greatly disagree with you, as do most scouts who say he can run a pro offense, I ask you what would he have gained by coming back? Would running Brian Kelly's spread offense helped him mature in a pro style offense? Yea, I really dont think so.
And finally, you say he doesnt embody toughness, and is only out for himself. Is that your opinion? Or is that Golden Tate's? Or Michael Floyd's? Or Eric Olsen's? Or Brian Smith's? Seems to me you just dont like Clausen, especially when his teammates, who I would just venture to guess know him a little better than you do, have nothing but praise for him. And how in the world can you say he is not tough? He should have had season ending surgery after the 3rd game, but played through it for the rest of the season.
Really though, great post, well thought out, obviously.
My post was actually thought out quite well.
Saying that if you come back for a fourth season you may get injured is just plain ignorant. This is a game of hitting, and that's just a fact. You can't make all your decisions like you are scared of getting injured. You take on a certain amount of risk when you play this game. And if you really are good enough (Sam Bradford) It doesn't really matter in the end. Plus, Tebow, and McCoy both came back, neither got hurt, and both were good enough to be drafted their junior years. So, how does your thought make any sense?
Coincidentally, making this decision shows a lot about your personality. 1. You really aren't that tough because you are scared of getting hurt. And maybe, you should find a game like golf to play. Maybe that's why Tebow went first, he has proven these traits.
2. Maturity, and this is the biggest. I said that he didn't have the maturity to run a pro offense. I misspoke, I meant he didn't have the maturity to run AN OFFENSE in THE PROs, regardless of the style. We all know he can run the pro style offense, he did it for three years... You gain maturity by ageing and playing the game and another year in college would go a long way to show that. The style he played would really only help him understand more about the game of football, and would probably not hurt him in the slightest. Actually, tell me how running a different style offense would hurt him?
Chasing the money. Chasing money shows a tremendous lack of maturity. He said in one of his post season interviews that coming to ND was purely a BUSINESS DECISION... One, coming to ND should never be a BUSINESS DECISION. The history, legends, and mystic of ND does not warrant a BUSINESS DECISION. The expectations are too high, the fan base wants results, we expect more. So, to come simply to get to the money shows immaturity.
On the business decision...If you come to play football at ND as a business decision, I don't want you! Go to USC or MU. Go to a school that doesn't matter. But don't come to my ND. I expect more maturity from a student who goes to a school like ND. I expect you to be a little different, smarter, more mature, harder working, in a word, special.
You can't make a business decision and play as a team member. Because not every member came there with the same thing in mind. He came to get to the pros, whatever the cost. He should have come to play for Notre Dame, not Jimmy Clausen. Playing football at Notre Dame is not a means to a personal end. Playing at ND means much much more than that. As a fan, I expect the legacy to be held up. I expect the players to come to ND and fight for the ND tradition, not make a business decision and jump ship because its best for a single player. If you come to the ND legacy, leave a legacy.
For those of you who say he didn't play defense...Ok, well, you say that the Offense put up enough points to win the game. Well, it goes like this, if at the end of the game, your team has fewer points than the other, you DID NOT put up enough points to win. It's called math. We can play the blame game all day, but in the end, there were not enough points put up. Period.
I've not said he was a bad player. I've said he made a bad decision going to the pros early, and he did not accomplish anything FOR Notre Dame football and the ND family.
I'm not saying the draft has turned out personally bad for Clausen. I'm saying this is no duh. It serves him, and everyone else, right for thinking he was a first rounder. The point of him leaving was to be a first round pick, and now that he's not, he missed the point. He should have showed the maturity he talks about and stayed.
As far as Tate goes, he's a WR, doesn't need the same team leadership the QB does. Totally different position with different responsibilities. I got nothin but love for him and his decision.
Personally, I defended JC though the 3-9, 6-7, and the 6-6, saying he was good and would still turn the program around. He would live up to the hype, he would bring ND back into relevance. I was a JC fan, until he made a school like ND a Business Decision.
I think I got all the haters out there.
