Kellen Clemens is confident and borderline cocky. He’s only 24, but his mannerisms are that of an old fashioned cowboy.
“You don't ever want to lose that confidence as a quarterback. The way I continued to work on it and maintain it was through my reps with the scout team,” Clemens said this week. “When I stepped into the huddle when we were going against our defense and trying to prepare them, I tried to talk to those guys as if we were going out there on Sunday. How good of a job I did is up for them to tell you, but that's the way I tried to maintain that confidence or quarterback swagger, if you will.”
Week 8: Jets-Redskins Game Release
Clemens will make his second career start today against the Washington Redskins at the Meadowlands (kickoff about 1:02 p.m. EST), but this one will be different. It marks the first time Clemens will open the game due to a coach’s decision. His September appearance at Baltimore came on the heels of a Chad Pennington ankle injury.
“He’s always had that confidence, I’d say it’s a quiet swagger about him,” said WR Jerricho Cotchery of Clemens. “It’s good. You have to have that as a quarterback. You have to be confident.”
The second-round draft pick of the Green & White in 2006, was one of four signalcallers to compete in the club’s quarterback derby two summers ago. Even though Pennington clearly established himself as the leading man, the rookie impressed his head coach.
“I've always respected his approach, even as a young guy coming in and being in that competition. There was nothing he shied away from,” said Eric Mangini, in his second season at the helm. “He wasn't going to concede anything. He worked as hard as he could and while he was doing that, while he was competing, he was a good guy and a good teammate.”
After he sat the majority of his rookie year, newyorkjets.com spoke exclusively with Clemens in the spring. He talked of the pressure he put himself under in his first season.
“I would wake up screaming out cadences and making audibles at the line. I don’t think my wife was sleeping, obviously, because I was waking her up,” he said. “Finally, in the later part of the season, I learned I have to get my rest or I’m done, I’m not going to make it.”
But he’s made it and then some, being named the Jets’ starter midway way through the ’07 season. Not bad for the former Oregon Duck who broke his left ankle as senior, going down in a Pac-10 contest against Arizona in 2005. His 61 career TD passes were one shy of the school record.
“I kind of pouted and moped around for a couple of days," he said of the injury that ended his college career. "My wife was tolerant of it for about a day and then said, ‘Look, this isn't you or the person you are. You need to buck up and get back on the horse.’ That's kind of what I did. I just put my mind to it and said I'm going to give myself the best chance I can to hopefully play again one day. And here I am.”
The spotlight will be on Clemens this afternoon. The 6’2”, 223-pounder, who owns a strong arm and is quite mobile, received Brian Schottenheimer’s offensive game plan on Tuesday. It was customized for the new starter.
“The only thing that's different is I get to have a little bit more input on the game plan and how I feel about certain plays, whereas in weeks previous, things were geared toward Chad because he was the starter,” he said.
It’s difficult not to be impressed by Clemens’ personality. After a year and a half of largely going unnoticed by the media, he doesn’t at all seem fazed by the cameras and microphones. He talks in friendly tones, less rough and confrontational than many New Yorkers. And he grins a lot even when being asked about an upcoming opponent.
Of the Redskins, Clemens said, “It will be interesting to see how they come out.” You wouldn’t characterize it as a challenge, but he definitely wasn’t shaking in his boots.
“That's a philosophy for teams a lot of times against a quarterback who hasn't started a lot of games — they'll try to pressure him and bring pressure. They'll try to get into his head and rattle him a little bit,” he said. “I've been pressured and blitzed and knocked down since I was playing this game as a teenager. I'm used to it and I'm not worried about it. It doesn't affect me maybe as it would another younger quarterback.”
Redskins Hall of Fame head coach Joe Gibbs has seen a lot of football over the years and he thinks there is a good chance Clemens will play well.
“I think in Kellen’s case, when most young guys get an opportunity they play their rear end off, so that is what we’re expecting,” he said.
The fresh-faced cowboy would like nothing more than to spur his team to victory today.
