With one week of summer school and a three-day post-draft minicamp now under his belt, rookie quarterback Jimmy Clausen is starting to settle in to the Carolinas. One thing that has eased Clausen's transition to the NFL is having played in a pro-style offense in college. Carolina operates virtually the same offense as the one he ran at Notre Dame under Charlie Weis, who was the offensive coordinator for New England when current Panthers offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson was the tight ends coach for the Patriots. "When Jimmy steps in the huddle, he doesn't have to learn a new language; he knows the language and understands a lot of the similar concepts. That's an advantage for him," said Panthers quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer. "Obviously, we do things different, but he doesn't have to learn a new language. For a young guy that's one of the biggest obstacles or the biggest part of the learning curve." Even though he is the third quarterback on the depth chart now, Clausen's ultimate goal is to be the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback. "That's my goal and that's what I'm doing right now. I'm going to everything I can to become the starter," he said. "My mentality is to prepare like I'm the starter and just go out there each and every day and have that mindset." Source: Panthers.com
