April 23, 2010
NEW YORK – Former University of Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen was selected with the 48th overall pick Friday evening by the Carolina Panthers in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft.
Clausen flourished in his final two seasons at Notre Dame and left the Irish ranked first or second in 32 passing categories including tops in career completion percentage, completions per game for a career and tied for first in lowest interception percentage over a career. A starter in 34 of 35 career games played, Clausen completed 695 of 1,110 career pass attempts for 8,148 yards with 60 touchdowns and 27 interceptions.
Voted a team captain as a senior in 2009, Clausen was named a semifinalist for both the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards and was named third-team All-American by Sporting News. He completed 68.0 percent of his passes (289 of 425) for 3,722 yards with 28 TDs and four interceptions. Clausen set the Notre Dame single-season record for best completion percentage, highest efficiency rating (161.4) and recorded the second-most passing yards and passing yards per game in Irish history in 2009. He helped guide the Irish to five fourth-quarter comebacks as a junior (four of which ended in Notre Dame victories) and he set a school record with seven 300-yard passing games in the 2009 season.
Since the NFL began drafting players in 1936, Notre Dame has had at least one player selected in 73 of the 75 NFL Drafts (no players drafted in 1937 and 1977) and no school has produced more NFL draft picks than Notre Dame.
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