(CSTV U-WIRE) UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When they were 12 and growing up in Berwick, Chris Blockus and his buddy Ron always used to play one-on-one Wiffleball. If you were pegged on the basepath during the game, you were out.
One afternoon, while Chris was scrambling around third, Ron gunned the ball at him for the out. The ball smacked Chris in the right thigh, leaving a painful, juicy welt. Ron sure did have a strong arm.
From the beginning, Ron Powlus was supposed to be the big-time quarterback.
So it is with Jimmy Clausen, a true freshman making his first collegiate start against No. 14 Penn State (1-0) on Saturday night.
The difference: Clausen still has the expectations before him; Powlus has already left them all behind.
“If there’s any freshman quarterback in the county that’s prepared to go into Michigan or into Penn State, it would be Jimmy Clausen,” said Bill Redell, Clausen’s high school coach.
Clausen was one of the most highly-regarded recruits in high school history. He went 42-0 as a high school starter. He passed for 10,764 yards and set a California record with 146 career touchdowns. He has two brothers who played at Tennessee, so he came from the right stock. And he chose to attend Notre Dame.
Powlus, a four-year staring quarterback at Notre Dame from 1994-97 and now its quarterbacks coach, was one of the nation’s top recruits in his time. And like Clausen, he was constantly trailed by those high hopes.
ESPN college football analyst Beano Cook predicted Powlus would win two Heisman trophies. Problem is, Powlus didn’t win two Heismans. Or even one. So, despite being a two-time captain and setting 20 Notre Dame records, he amounted to disappointment for some Notre Dame fans.
They heard all the stories about his high school days: how he played in front of 30,000-person crowds, how he led Berwick to a USA Today national championship in his senior year, how he could will his team to victory with his legs if the secondary was too constricting.
“He fulfilled his, whatever you wanted to say, responsibilities,” Blockus said of Powlus’ senior high school season. “Everyone hyped it up like that should happen and they should win, and he made true on all those things.”
Powlus couldn’t win over the Notre Dame fans the same way. Blockus, who attended Mansfield University, traveled to South Bend, Ind., in the Powlus family van. Once he got there, he remembered hearing the crowd grumble about Powlus’ performance.
“In all that, it affected us more than it affected him,” Blockus said of Powlus’ family and friends. “We were the ones that would read all those expectations, then when people thought they went unfulfilled, we saw it on TV.”
Clausen is now in the same position. As a high school junior, Sports Illustrated hailed him as “The Kid with the Golden Arm” and a “once-in-a-generation talent” in a four-page spread.
“I think it’s unfair scrutiny; it’s overdone,” Redell said.
“Nobody can live up to the hype he’s received. He’s just — he’s a great player. But the hype he’s getting — it takes a team. And he’s going to be part of that team. And he’ll battle. But I don’t think anyone can live up to the hype.”
But there to help Clausen deal with the pressure will be Powlus, who joined the Notre Dame staff this year.
There’s the other difference: Whatever Clausen’s path may be, Powlus will at least be there to help guide him. Whatever the fans say — good or bad — Powlus has seen it all before.
“People talk about Notre Dame and it being a bad experience for Ron, but I don’t see it that way, being his best friend,” Blockus said. “He’s there now. He chose to go back to that campus. He chose to go back to Notre Dame, because Notre Dame football is larger than one person.
“You ask him, he’ll tell you he’s had so many doors opened up for him by being the quarterback at Notre Dame. I’m sure he’d like to win a Heisman Trophy and national championship, but if you ask him, looking back on it, he wouldn’t change it for the world.”