CLAUSEN EFFECT OAKS CHRISTIAN QB HAS GONE FROM PRODIGY TO CAN'T-MISS NFL PROSPECT.

Byline: VINCENT BONSIGNORE Staff Writer

WESTLAKE VILLAGE - Jimmy Clausen's cell phone is ringing -- again.

Sports Illustrated wants the record-breaking Oaks Christian quarterback for 15 minutes, tops. ESPN checks in about the upcoming photo shoot.

In between, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis text messages just to say hello.

Then there is a family from Nebraska who just showed up at Oaks Christian to meet the future Fighting Irish quarterback and was wondering if he could get a picture taken with them?

Football season hasn't even started, yet the crazy, frenzied life of the most hyped prep quarterback of all time is pushing on full throttle.

And Jimmy Clausen is enjoying every minute of it.

``I've worked my entire life to put myself in this position,'' Clausen said. ``The last thing I'm going to do is not enjoy this.''

Then again, what's not to enjoy about being a certified phenomenon?

Three years ago, national magazines were touting Clausen as the high school football equivalent of LeBron James, a talent so immense, scouts said he was a mixture of Joe Namath, John Elway and Peyton Manning.

This was before he ever played a down of football.

``When you start hearing about a kid in the seventh grade, it's pretty obvious something special is brewing,'' recruiting expert Greg Biggins of Student Sports Magazine said.

Ninety-six touchdowns, 7,064 career passing yards, three Southern Section championships and a perfect record as a starting quarterback later, Clausen's legend continues to grow.

``I've never seen anything like it,'' Oaks Christian coach Bill Redell said. ``And I've been doing this a long, long time.''

`As real a deal as there is'

Jimmy Clausen is a product of what came before him.

The younger brother of Division I college quarterbacks Casey and Rick and the son of a former college football coach, Jimmy got an up-close view of football few kids are ever exposed to.

Casey, the former Alemany of Mission Hills standout, was a four-year starter at Tennessee and had two NFL tryouts. Rick, who played at Taft of Woodland Hills, spent one year at LSU before transferring to Tennessee, where he was a part-time starter.

His father Jim was an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge and coached high school football at La Canada and Moorpark.

And like his two brothers, Jimmy was groomed by highly regarded quarterback guru Steve Clarkson, whose Air 7 football school helped produce NFL quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Leinart and J.P. Losman.

``I can't tell you what growing up in that sort of environment meant to me,'' Jimmy said. ``It made all the difference, really.''

Weekend trips all over the country to hang with Casey and Rick on Tennessee football days put Jimmy in team meetings, inside locker rooms for halftime speeches and on the sideline while 80,000 fans rocked and rolled around him.

``He's been in places where almost every fan in the stadium hated my guts and shouted every sort of abusive verbal insult you can imagine,'' Casey said, laughing. ``There isn't much that will intimidate him, I can tell you that much.''

Of course, everything started with a throwing arm so explosive and sure Clausen was outgunning Division I college quarterbacks during private workouts as a seventh-grader.

``The skills and the arm are beyond obvious,'' Clarkson said. ``But above everything is that release. I know people like to compare him to (Elway), and I understand why because he's got the big-time arm and he can make any throw imaginable. But what really stands out is how quickly he gets rid of the ball. The only guy I can compare it to is Namath.''

By the time Clausen arrived at Oaks Christian as a ninth-grader, word was spreading that a potential all-time great was ready to be unleashed on the region. The fact he never played organized football in pads -- a decision made by his father to prevent burnout -- only added to the intrigue.

``I guess in the back of your mind you wondered how he'd play in an actual game,'' Oaks Christian receiver Sean Wiser said. ``Then he threw a bunch of touchdown passes his first game and I think the team's reaction was a collective: ``Um, OK, this kid might be the real deal.''

Three years later, Clausen's penned a record book so thick it looks like the phone book for a small city. In the process, he has won over the harshest critics of them all.

``Football coaches by their nature have a prove-it-to-me mentality a lot of times,'' Biggins said. ``So there were college coaches who approached Jimmy with the feeling that they'd find something not to like about his game.

``But every single coach I've ever dealt with came away saying, `He's even better than I heard.' And anyone who says he's overhyped or not as good as people say, I can pretty much guarantee they've never seen him play in person. This kid is as real a deal as there is.''

Success breeds criticism

With the good comes some bad. As admired as Clausen is across the country, he takes his fair share of hits, too. A legion of anti-Clausen fans infuriated by his success and the hype he generates continually pick holes in everything he does, and they aren't afraid to voice their feelings.

They fill Internet chat rooms and flood media members with e-mails to spew their disapproval over everything from the fact he was held back one year in elementary school -- giving him a perceived unfair advantage against younger players -- to the level of competition Oaks Christian plays in the Northwest Division.

Clausen will turn 19 during the season, which is allowed under state rules.

``You just learn to deal with it,'' Jimmy said. ``Some stuff, you just have no control over.''

Some of the harshest criticism is directed at his father, who has been accused of playing the system by sending his sons to four different high schools in search of better coaching and better opportunity over the years.

It also didn't help that he got involved in a shouting match with the coach of a rival school during a Hart of Newhall passing league game a few years ago. In addition, he once was seen yelling at Jimmy after a passing-league game.

Incidents like these only add fuel to critics who describe him as overbearing.

Others argue the criticism is out of line.

``(Jim) is a Type A personality and when he's in a room, you know he's there,'' Oaks Christian offensive coordinator Mark Bates said.

``But overbearing? No. A meddler? No. And aside from the one incident at Hart, I barely even remember seeing him at games, let alone drawing attention to himself.''

`Nothing is guaranteed'

Day two of the 2004 NFL draft was winding down and the phone call Casey Clausen waited his whole life for still hadn't arrived. By now, he resigned himself to the fact the phone wasn't going to ring and that the glossy credentials he accumulated as a four-year starter at Tennessee didn't resonate with NFL teams.

The Clausen family was devastated.

``It's something I still haven't fully recovered from,'' father Jim said.

Hurt, angry and embarrassed, Casey Clausen immediately turned his attention to younger brother Jimmy.

``He looked at me at one point and said: `This isn't going to happen to you,'' Jimmy Clausen recalls. ``And I said, `I know.'''

If anything fuels the fire within Jimmy Clausen, it's the bitter disappointment of his brother's failed NFL career. Casey had tryouts with the Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams and played a stint in NFL Europe, but nothing substantial materialized. After two years, he abandoned his dreams of professional football to follow his father's footsteps in the insurance business.

``I found out that nothing is guaranteed,'' Casey said. ``It was a bitter lesson to learn. But you deal with it and move on. Now, it's Jimmy's turn.''

Jimmy Clausen isn't naive enough to think an NFL career awaits him after college, but his decision to play for Weis at Notre Dame suggests he's got his eyes firmly focused on a future professional career. He had his pick of any school in the country, but he chose Weis for winning four Super Bowl rings and developing New England Patriots' quarterback Tom Brady.

``I don't think he'll come right out and say it, but there's no doubt his brother's NFL disappointment drives him,'' said his mother, Cathy Clausen.

``The entire family hurts over what happened to Casey. We now know that so many factors are out of your hands, but Jimmy is completely driven to at least put himself in a position to take his talents further.''

Jimmy Clausen doesn't hide his dreams for the NFL, but he still hasn't thrown a pass as a high school senior, let alone in college. Right now, his focus is on leading Oaks Christian to a fourth straight Southern Section championship.

``Look, I haven't accomplished anything close to what my brothers have done,'' Clausen said. ``They played college football, I'm still in high school. They've done what I want to do. Right now, all I can do, and all I really want to do, is continue to work as hard as I can to be a complete quarterback and the best football player I can be. Everything else will take care of itself.''

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CAPTION(S):

9 photos, 6 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Quarterback Jimmy Clausen shows the media and fans his three Southern Section championship rings at the College Football Hall of Fame after announcing his commitment to Notre Dame in April.

Courtesy of South Bend (Ind.) Tribune

(2 -- color) In his first seasons as the Oaks Christian High quarterback, Jimmy Clausen has led the Lions to three Southern Section championships.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) CLAUSEN

Alex Collins/Special to the Daily News

(4 -- color) no caption (Rick Clasen)

(5 -- color) no caption (Jimmy Clausen)

Daily News file photo

(6 -- color) no caption (Casey Clausen)

(7 -- color) no caption (Rick Clausen)

(8 -- 9 -- color) no caption (Jimmy Clausen)

Box:

(1) JIMMY CLAUSEN GAME-BY-GAME

(2) RICK CLAUSEN YEAR-BY-YEAR

(3) CASEY CLAUSEN YEAR-BY-YEAR

(4) CLAUSEN FAMILY TIMELINE

(5) AREA'S BEST QUARTERBACKS

(6) HONORABLE MENTION

- Erik Boal