Casey Clausen 22 Tennessee 7 QB PLAYER AGE SCHOOL NO. POSITION

Height  6'4" Weight  215 lbs. Year  Junior 2002 stats  46-62, 501 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs Career stats  394-610, 4,943 yards, 39 TDs, 17 INTs

QB SPECIFICS Arm Strength B+ Casey's arm strength is good enough. He doesn't have one of the rocket arms in college football, but I believe that this is one of the least important attributes for a successful quarterback. Strong enough but not overwhelming. Escape Ability B This is not what he is known for, but he has leaned to shuffle around and manage the pocket well enough to be successful. In that regard he is a little like Joey Harrington, who was not the most mobile quarterback but was very nimble in the pocket, and that is very important for a passer like Clausen. Quick Set Up A- His footwork is impeccable. Casey works very hard at it and you can tell he is well-coached. His set up is repetitive and disciplined. The time he has put in shows. Accuracy Long A- He has great players to throw to at Tennessee, and if you don't throw the long ball well you won't play at UT. Casey seems to like to throw long and he is good at it, too. Accuracy Short A Casey is a passer who doesn't have a real strong arm, so he has learned to be accurate. He is a good short passer and that is what makes him a good quarterback. Locate 2nd Receiver A- One of the great things about playing at Tennessee is that the first receiver is usually open because they have such good players. But you can tell that Casey puts a lot of work into film study because he knows instantly where the second receiver is and he is not afraid to go from one side of the field to the other. I don't know if he runs the true West Coast offense in which he would do a lot of checking down, but when he does it he does it well. Running Ability B Casey is a tough guy who is not afraid to take a hit, but it doesn't really matter with him. He uses the other 10 players on the field to help him out, and he will get the first down when he does take off, which is what you like to see in a quarterback. Quickness of Delivery A This is what he does well. Casey has a very quick, pro-style release. In modern-day college football, when a player is mentioned among the top quarterbacks that means he have a quick release and Casey is as good as anyone as far as that is concerned. Judgment A- He plays a lot of big games and in the tough SEC games he has been in and won he managed his team very well. I'm sure in the modern passing game and the offense he is running he is given a lot of responsibility, and it looks like he is doing something right. His ability to know when to gamble and when to back off is very high. Poise A This is what I like the most about Casey. He has been in a lot of big, tough games and he seems to keep fighting all the way to the end. He has a great demeanor in the pocket and on the sideline, and even after a bad game. This is his strength and why he is going to be a very good quarterback.

SUMMARY Casey is a guy to whom football is very important. He sees himself as a guy who should be a good quarterback, he wants to be good and he is willing to pay the price to be good. You can see that in his leadership skills, the way he took on the Tennesse job early and had a lot of confiednce in himself. That confidence is reflected in his teammates and that may be the first attribute any quarterback needs.

Former NFL quarterback Gary Danielson is a college football analyst for ABC Sports.