Lisa Hooks Us Up Again

From Fox Sports; Straight Talk From the Left Coast

"Coming soon to you...a collection of giant heads ready to explode from the enormous strain of trying to do the right or wrong thing. It's not that they're bad people...it's just that their attempts to have things go their way have caused cranial pressure that's equivalent to a giant vise on a balloon. Something's got to give.

Head No. 8....Charlie Weis'
If Weis had trouble with San Diego State last year, wait until he gets a load of Nevada this year. In fact, don't be shocked if Nevada is favored due to their powerful running game and super-stud quarterback Colin Kaepernick.. If they are the favorites, Weis may wish that the fans will just throw snowballs at him in November. In the meantime, Weis' head is about to explode from all the enormous pressure-filled games he has. Like Nevada, Washington, Washington State, Navy, Pitt, UConn and Stanford. Sssssst.....boooooooom.....bah!"

Awesome! http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Lisa%20H/2009/05/27/See_Heads_Explode

Lisa Horne, Our New Favorite Femme Sports Writer

Sorry Graham Watson. After you dissed Colin Kaepernick on your ESPN blog, stating that you didn't agree with co-worker Bruce Feldman's choice of Kaepernick being a Heisman worthy player, you were already in our dog house.

Now today we read Lisa's column from Fox Sports. And in it she lists her choices for the top 5 most under-rated QB's in the country. Take a look at who's #1.

"#1 Colin Kaepernick Nevada

Don't laugh- this 6'6" kid was named WAC Freshman of the Year (2007) and almost pulled off an upset of the Boise State Broncos in what would become the highest scoring game in NCAA history. Colin was also the fifth ranked quarterback (passing efficiency) in the country behind Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Dennis Dixon and Colt Brennan.

But there's more- he's the only NCAA QB in 2008 to pass for 2,500 or more yards and rush for 1,000 or more yards, was named WAC Offensive Player of the Year (Marshall Faulk is the only other sophomore to win this award), and was named MVP of the Humanitarian Bowl. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame are going to find out just how good Kaepernick is when they play Nevada in their home opener. (Advice: take Nevada and the points)"


The dictionary describes under-rated as being: to rate or evaluate to low; undervalued. You might want to write that down Graham Watson.

http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/Lisa%20H/2009/05/22/Top_5_Most_Underrated_QBS_in_College_Football

The added cherry-on-top bonus is the little bolded bit of advice she gives to readers regarding the Sept 5th match-up with Notre Dame.

Need a Reason to Hate ND Even More?

(Picture evidence of why it is IMPOSSIBLE the Pack could give the Irish a close game)


Why not give you one then? Only one word comes up more in the college football world than "Irish" and that's "Tebow". And although it's enough to make you want to puke just how much Timmy is rammed down our throats on a daily basis on ESPN, at least he has the stats and rings to back it up. Plus, we don't play Flordia until January. So lets hate on our first opponent then. It's really not that hard anyway but what the heck. It's the first day after a long weekend and we thought you deserve to get some info on the Irish, namely their highly rated QB. The future "Lebron James" of football.

What's that? You're snickering?

We're being serious. At least that was the statement made by Jimmy's private QB coach, Steve Clarkson, when he was coming out of highschool. Sure it would be easy to target Charlie "ate the chocolate factory" Weis. But we'll stick to the golden armed golden boy this time.

From an SI article during Jimmy's HS career http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/magazine/11/21/clausen1128/:
"Adds Steve Clarkson, a private quarterbacks coach who has instructed all three Clausens, "Jimmy has the leadership of Casey, the intangibles of Rick and the skills of Dan Marino." In fact, no one can think of many flaws Clausen needs to correct, but that doesn't mean he isn't continuing to work to improve. In addition to the time he spends with Clarkson -- at least 10 hours a week in the off-season, less during the season -- Clausen watches an hour of film every night, and he talks with his brothers almost daily. "What amazes me is his ability to keep things in perspective," says Clarkson. "He knows people are there to watch him, but he is able to shrug that off and play. People don't think he can live up to the hype, but in most cases he exceeds it."

Clarkson is responsible for much of that hype, having tagged Clausen "the LeBron James of high school football" before his freshman year. However apt the comparison may be in terms of, say, Clausen's ability to dominate the competition, the young quarterback has taken on none of the trappings of celebrity."

Yep, we are pretty sure he didn't take on the trappings of celebrity too. Every HS kid shows up in a limo with 5 rings on for his signing. Didn't you guys attend the gala event held in Kevin Basped's honor when he inked with the Pack?



Then there are those rumors about his "being old" for his class. Come on now. Here are the real facts about that:

"Clausen was held back a year in grade school and also started kindergarten a year late. Clausen was born September 21, 1987, so he entered kindergarten at the age of 6 and turned 7 within a month of starting school. For point of reference, I was 5 when I entered kindergarten and didn't turn 6 until April. Clausen would have been almost a year and a half older than your average kindergartner. Could you imagine a 7 year old playing peewee football against 5 year olds?? Think about how much confidence you would have playing against kids two years younger than you at all times. Is there any doubt that his age probably had a huge impact on his athletic career??

Clausen also repeated 6th grade, which meant that he turned 16 in September of his freshman year. Clausen was able to drive in the first month of his FRESHMAN year! That's amazing! I didn't have a driver's license until the end of my sophomore year. That's not necessarily an athletic advantage, but it's still pretty cool. It's kind of nice to always be the first to do something in your class, and he was the first to do things by over a year. You could say there's maybe even a social advantage to being the first to do everything.

Clausen graduated high school at the age of 19 in December 2006. He is going to turn 22 this year in September, and will be 23 for most of next year's college football season. That's amazing to me. If he had actually redshirted in college, he would have been 24 for his 5th year of football."



Then there are the rumors that Clausen's parents are rich and his dad bought him a big nice house right across from the field. Here's how the deal went down:

"A robust man is across the street from Touchdown Jesus, going door-to-door. He wants to buy a house, wants it close to the Golden Dome and, preferably, wants it this autumn afternoon. He rings 16 doorbells, but half the home owners don't answer and the other half won't sell. He keeps plugging. At the 17th home, an older woman in curlers invites him in, offers lemonade. He tells her no thanks, he'd rather have her house. She says sorry and urges him to head three doors down. The man goes straight there and finds the door slightly ajar. He knocks, and a gravelly voice says, "We don't want any." He knocks again. "We don't want any!" He doesn't budge, instead pressing his business card against the screen door.

"Oh, we thought you were a Jehovah's Witness," says an elderly woman, waving him inside. "We watched you work the entire neighborhood."

"No, I'm Jim Clausen," says the man. "My son's coming to school here, and I want to buy your house."

And from the next room comes the gravelly voice again: "Sonny, this is your lucky day." Already he's a campus celebrity, signing autographs on his way to class and in the student section at Irish basketball games. Talk about a bubble: He's just entered one. As time wears on, he figures it will be nice to have a place to hide, a place near the dorms, a place where he can decompress.

And that's what the house is for, the one across the street from Touchdown Jesus. Why do you think Jim Clausen went door-to-door? He ended up negotiating a deal with the gravelly voice, an elderly gentleman who was moving into assisted living. They were in escrow within 24 hours.

Contractors gutted the place and turned it into a tricked-out five-bedroom hangout. The basement is now a game room with a big-screen TV, and Jimmy has already brought over teammates to watch NFL games. But mostly, the house will be a sanctuary after tough days, because if the Clausens have learned anything, it's that hype and hate are on the way. "The first time Jimmy throws three picks, someone's going to stick a "For Sale" sign in the front yard," says Jim Clausen, chuckling.

The family will be at the house every football weekend. And the robust dad already knows how they'll arrive at Jimmy's games, including that first one, the spring game on April 21.

No, not in a Hummer.

In a golf cart."



http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3631114&campaign=rsssrch&source=notre+dame+football



What, didn't your dad go knocking door to door to buy you a house across from the science building? Well he probably didn't love you enough then. And notice his dad's name is Jim...now try and tell us he wasn't a spoiled rotten little "baby of the family" brat.



So there you have it. A nice read to start your week. Hopefully it's a nice read for Kevin and Dontay as well.

We're sure ND fans who stop by have read this all before from other opponents so it's all old hat to them. Bear with us though please, as Nevada fans may be in the dark a little about this stuff so we're taking it upon ourselves to educate them on the topic.

Athlon Sports Nation Mag

Hmmmm, this is very odd.

It was reported that Boise St QB Kellen Moore was featured on the cover of the national publication. In fact, a "take that" was directed towards our program.

Then this weekend I walked into a Borders Bookstore and picked up a copy of Athlon's mag. It said "National Addition" This Borders was located on the West Coast. And on the cover was Tim Teebow, Sam Bradford, and Joe McKnight.

On the inside there is a section that reviews the WAC in a quick snapshot at the front of the magazine. And guess who was the pictured player? Let's just say the #1 QB in the conference and leave it at that.

So while some small handful of people will pick up a copy of Athlon's book with Kellen Moore on the front, everyone in the world who picks up a copy and scans the 411 on each conference will see silver and blue looking back at them from the WAC.

How Much Can We Improve Over This?

We guess the early TD's by them is about it. Maybe a Fresnoesqe total rushing yards? Ah, well enjoy anyway.

Lots of Good Stuff During the Off Season

Plenty of positives have taken place for the Wolf Pack football team this off season.

Nevada signed it's first ever Army All American, DB Chris Metcalf, as reported by http://www.silverandbluesports.com/

Former Wolf Pack WR Marko Mitchell was drafted in the 7th round with the 243rd pick by the Washington Redskins

http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/marko-mitchell?id=79615

QB Colin Kaepernick let us know the ankle is 100% in an interview http://www.collegefootballgeek.com/index.php/articles/comments/our-interview-with-colin-kaepernick/

The Pack wrapped up a productive spring training camp in March http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=45380&SPID=4082&DB_OEM_ID=10000&ATCLID=3693141

Nevada inked deals for future PAC 10 opponents, including a couple of teams visiting Mackay stadiumhttp://www.nevadawolfpack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=45380&SPID=4082&DB_OEM_ID=10000&ATCLID=3730640

Luke Lippincott was officialy given a sixth year http://www.nevadawolfpack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=45380&SPID=4082&DB_OEM_ID=10000&ATCLID=3693995

Defensive end Kevin Basped was named to the pre-season Lombardi Award watch listhttp://www.nevadawolfpack.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=45380&SPID=4082&DB_OEM_ID=10000&ATCLID=3682774

A handful of players were named to the College Football Performance Awards http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2369434.htm

Coach Ault took part in the Coaches Caravan and talked Nevada Football http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20090516/NEWS/905169965/1046/rss

Phil Steel picked Nevada as a pre-season #35 team, twice as good as lst year http://www.philsteele.com/

Many, many others.

Can't wait for Sept 5th. See you in South Bend!

Please, Please Boise Fans We Beg You

This may be our first post in a long while but this issue had to be addressed immediately.

We understand you are proud of your freshmen of the year QB, Kellen Moore. We are proud of our former freshman of the year QB as well.

But please, in the future, when you post pictures of the young man....Use pictures with his helmet on!