Q&A with UNLV junior Mike Clausen

UNLV junior Mike Clausen was shifted from quarterback to free safety two weeks ago and intercepted a pass in Saturday's 45-10 victory over New Mexico.

Clausen is a neatnik and has a 5-month-old son, Myles.

Clausen's Rebels (1-3) play No. 25 UNR (4-0) at 7 p.m. Saturday before an expected crowd of more than 30,000 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

He recently answered 10 questions from the Review-Journal.

1. How did the conversation come up about moving to free safety?

The Utah game (Sept. 11) came around, and through four quarters I sat there and watched our team play. If I'm not going to get on the field, I felt I was capable of playing another position to help our team. So I talked to Coach (Bobby Hauck) and said, "Me sitting on the sidelines isn't doing (anything). I feel I'm one of our team's better players. I can help the team whichever way you need me."

He said he was going to talk to the staff, and he came back and said, "How do you feel about safety?" I said, "Fine, let's go at it." The next day, I was in a different color jersey.

2. Was this first brought up in the spring?

In the spring, (Hauck) said if I got beat out for the (quarterback) spot, I'm more likely to play another position. He said if I didn't play so well in camp, I probably would've made the switch a lot earlier. Now that Omar is playing pretty good football, I wanted to get on the field any way possible.

3. Quarterback is such a glamour position. What was your reaction?

I was actually fine with it. If I could play quarterback and defense at the same time, I'd be happy with that, too. I just like being on the field. I love football in any way, shape, form or fashion, so whichever way I'm on the field, I'm going to be happy.

4. How important was playing quarterback when you were being recruited?

UNLV and Utah State offered me (scholarships) to play quarterback. Any school that came and offered me to play safety, I turned down. Washington, Fresno State, Arizona. I had a lot of schools come that wanted me to play safety because I was a big body.

5. Any regrets?

Not at all. I love this team. I love this atmosphere. I love everything about it, and I haven't had second thoughts once or regretted it. I live by my decision.

6. If you knew then what you know now, would you have gone into training camp at safety?

I don't know. Training camp isn't the easiest thing in the world, and quarterback's not the hardest position physically. (You wear) a nice jersey and don't get a lot of contact. I probably would have liked to get more experience, get my footwork right. But I'm learning on the run, and it's going pretty well so far.

7. How is it facing Omar Clayton and Caleb Herring in practice?

I picked Caleb off (two weeks ago), and I've been telling him every day since. ... They do get the easy part of practice. Quarterback is way easier than (defensive back).

8. Is it difficult to balance being a dad, a student and an athlete?

He's back home in California with his mom. He'll be here this week for the game. He's big. He's about 19 pounds. He can Army crawl.

It's kind of hard during football season (to see him), but Christmas break and after spring (practice) when we have every weekend open, I get to go home or he'll come here. Right now, it's good for him to come to the home games and be able to watch. He doesn't know what he's looking at, but it's always nice to know he was at the games. I get to tell him that later in life.

9. You HAVE an impressive cap collection. What does that say about you?

I own close to every major league baseball team. It started with the authentic baseball hats and then branched off to whatever looks nice. I like my clothes to match, so my hats are incorporated. Clothing, just in general, is probably a big thing. Being from Southern California, fashion is important. I've probably got around 40, 50 pairs of shoes as well.

If you look good, you feel good.

10. How do you organize everything?

My closet's organized. Right here (on the left), Nike Dunks are all there, and I've got my Air Maxes, my Chuck Taylors. I've got dress shoes over (on the right). My hats are on top of each other, and I can see whatever color and pull it out.

My mom brought me up that way and has always been kind of organized. She never let (the home) be dirty in any kind of way. Plus, I think being neat is the best way to go. It's less complicated as far as finding things.

If you come over to my house, everything's pretty neat and clean. People come over to my apartment and don't think I decorated it myself. It's pretty nice for a college student. I've got accented pillows that go with the rug, and all my stuff kind of (matches).

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at
manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914.