I'll say this. Rick Clausen hangs in there. He was at LSU for three years and left because of the log jam at quarterback here. Looks like he will start in Tiger Stadium again--wearing that gawd-awful orange. Clausen Vols starter again Rick Clausen is the quarterback who won't go away. The Tennessee senior saved the No. 6 Volunteers' season a year ago when he played in place of the two injured freshmen ahead of him on the depth chart. Then he was passed over again for last week's starting job against UAB, but Clausen outplayed sophomore Erik Ainge and has won back the job -- at least for the next two weeks.
he actually looked really good against UAB, granted it was UAB, but nonetheless he looked pretty good. Was 17/24 with about 3 or 4 perfectly thrown dropped passes........but if they can't protect him and he gets hit a few times that all might change.
time for me to eat a little crow and give this guy credit. ainge looked stellar last year minus a few inconsistentices of a true frosh yet RC never backed away and stepped up to the challenge. everyone i know, including myself, dogged this guy because he couldn't break a wet paper bag with a football due to lack of arm strength. somehow he's done a complete 180 and ive not seen many guys suddenly develop like this. im not sure if he wasnt getting enough reps, a fair shake or correct coaching. maybe he is just a slow developer since everyone's clock is different but i surely cannot explain sudden arm strength. i thought it was like speed which cannot really be coached. good luck to rick, he's a class act and I wish him well except in 2 weeks.
The VOLS are very vulnerable at this point because Fulmer knows very well that if they don't play much better that they did on Saturday, they could easily lose three straight games. It will be interesting to see how he handles the pressure of being the starter.
Slow developer, the coaches said. He came in a little small for an SEC quarterback at 170 pounds. He needed time to bulk up and apparently also to mature as a passer.
He won't need any help getting motivated against LSU. Do you think he'd like to win in Tiger Stadium?
