Kellen Clemens

Kellen Vincent Clemens (born June 6, 1983) is an American football quarterback who is currently a member of the St. Louis Rams. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the second round (49th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He played collegiately at Oregon.

He has also been a member of the Washington Redskins, Houston Texans, and St. Louis Rams.

Early years
Clemens played high school football for the Burns Hilanders and led them to the Oregon state 3A championship game in 1999. In his high school career he threw for a state-record 8,646 yards (610-of-1,112) and 102 TD. He also received USA Today All-American honors and Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year while in high school, where he completed 218 of 395 passes for 3464 yd and 37 TD with 325 rushing yards and 15 TD in his senior season. He was coached by Terry Graham using the run and shoot offense.

College career
Clemens played college football at the University of Oregon. He assumed the role of starting QB in all 13 games in 2003 and responded by throwing for more TD passes and yards than any sophomore in school history, surpassing Dan Fouts—who had 16 TDs and 2390 yards, in 1970. He posted three rushing TD, three passing TD and a career-best 437 passing yards in a road victory over Washington State as a junior. As a senior during the 2005 season he broke his ankle while playing against Arizona. Despite missing remaining three games of the season, he finished 2005 with 2,406 passing yards, 19 TDs, 4 interceptions, and a 152.87 passer efficiency rating. He finished his Oregon career with 7,555 passing yards.

New York Jets
Clemens was selected by the New York Jets 49th overall in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft to serve as the secondary quarterback to Chad Pennington. A healthy Pennington resulted in little playing time for Clemens in 2006. He entered in a Game 13 loss to the Buffalo Bills, rushed once for 8 yards but did not attempt a pass. He then made NFL debut in relief appearance against the Jacksonville Jaguars, recording his first career pass attempt and rushing once for 2 yards. He recorded only two attempts and 0 completions in his rookie season. Due to an injury to Chad Pennington in the Jets's 2007-2008 season opener against the New England Patriots, Clemens recorded his first completed pass in the NFL with a final record for the day of five complete passes on ten attempts.

Clemens made his first career start in Week 2 of the 2007 season. Clemens's effectiveness was minimized by the Ravens's defense for the first three quarters, with the Jets trailing 20-3 at one point. However, in the fourth quarter, Clemens led the Jets on a scoring drive that cut Baltimore's lead to 20-13. On the last drive, Clemens attempted what would have been a game-tying touchdown pass to Jets wide receiver Justin McCareins, but the pass was dropped by McCareins instead of caught, and was then intercepted by the Ravens's Ray Lewis.

His next appearance would come in the Jets's Week 8 match-up against the Buffalo Bills. A struggling Pennington was pulled by head coach Eric Mangini in the middle of the fourth quarter and replaced by Clemens. Clemens led two drives against the Buffalo defense. Down 13-3 and pressed for time, Clemens attempted to quickly move the Jets offense down the field but was intercepted twice. The following day, on October 29, 2007, Clemens was named the starting quarterback for the next game against the Washington Redskins.

In 2008, Clemens was only on the field to attempt five passes as the backup to Brett Favre. When Mike Nugent, the Jets's kicker, injured his thigh in the September 7th game against the Miami Dolphins, Clemens filled in as the team's placekicker, but was not called upon to kick.

On August 26, 2009, Jet's head coach Rex Ryan announced that Mark Sanchez would be the starting quarterback for the 2009 season, a position left vacant after Brett Favre was released from the Jets in February. On December 3, 2009, Clemens was forced to come in against the Buffalo Bills after Mark Sanchez sprained his PCL. Clemens started the Jets's next game against the 1-11 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite an unexceptional personal performance by Clemens, the Jets were still able to pick up an important 26-3 victory.

Clemens threw for 125 yards with no touchdowns in 2009. He played mostly when Mark Sanchez was injured.

Clemens was re-signed to a one-year contract on April 13, 2010. The only action he saw was in the week 17 game against the Buffalo Bills.

Washington Redskins
On July 27, 2011, Clemens signed a one-year contract with the Washington Redskins where he competed for a backup role during the 2011 preseason. The Redskins released Clemens on September 3, 2011.

Houston Texans
Clemens was signed by the Texans on November 23, 2011 after starting quarterback Matt Schaub was placed on injured reserve. He was waived on December 6, in order for the Texans to sign Jeff Garcia.

St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams claimed Clemens off of waivers on December 7. After an ankle sprain sidelined starting quarterback Sam Bradford and with backup A.J. Feeley out with a thumb injury, Clemens started on December 18, 2011, against the Cincinnati Bengals. With only 11 days to get familiar with the team and the offense Clemens passed for 229 yards completing 25 of 36 passes. In that game he completed a 25 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Danario Alexander, his first NFL touchdown pass since 2007 with the Jets. The Rams would end up losing to the Bengals with the final score of 20-13. Clemens started the final two games for the Rams, both losses to the Steelers and rival 49ers. Clemens finished the season with 2 touchdown passes and 1 rushing touchdown. He was re-signed by the Rams following the 2011 season.

Personal life
Kellen Clemens is a sixth generation cattle rancher. He grew up herding cattle on his family's 3500 acre ranch in Burns, Oregon, where they own over 100 head of cattle. In his spare time, Kellen enjoys horseback riding.

Clemens is an active and practicing Roman Catholic, and is married with two children with a strong religious devotion to the Holy Family of Nazareth. In a February 2012 interview with the National Catholic Register, he noted that his patron saint is Saint Sebastian and has special religious devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. He also noted that he wears the Brown Scapular in connection to this religious faith. Furthermore, Clemens noted that he is very supportive of the Pro-Life cause, and publicly credits Mitt Romney for his 2012 vote.

Clemens has four sisters and majored in Business Administration at the University of Oregon. Clemens is an active member of Catholic Athletes for Christ. He and his wife Nicole reside in Whippany, New Jersey. Clemens also expressed a feeling of deep honour when Pope Benedict XVI blessed and kissed their four-week-old baby girl at the final procession of the Papal Mass on April 17, 2008 at Nationals Park in Washington D.C. As a show of appreciation for the Pope's blessing, Kellen Clemens signed the Pope's mitre.