Charlie Weis already knew. The guys in the locker room with him already knew. Kordell Stewart wished he knew (he came out, right?). Jimmy Clausen has big balls. Bowling ball-sized, actually. They ride shotgun in his Denali, and sign autographs for the lucky fan occasionally, but always in a hurried, scribbled manner, as if to say, “Sorry, I’ve got places to be.” Like, on national television, showing who’s the best quarterback in the land.

Well, consider the people “showed”. They were “showed” when Clausen led a last minute drive for the winning touchdown against the Boilermakers despite the facts that he came away grimacing every time he planted his turf toe-affected foot into the ground, and that his offensive lineman let defenders rush him like pubescent girls would love to rush between the cape and arms of a hunky, sensitive vampire who saved their life from an oncoming car, and especially desires the scent of their blood.

And not just us regular people, but NFL scouts now know too.

From Weis:

“I got more text messages last night from NFL people saying that same thing – ‘Good to see a quarterback with some guts,’ ” Weis shared on Sunday evening. “The word might not have been ‘guts,’ but I got several of them last night on the way home, because I’ve got a bunch of friends that are all pulling for Notre Dame, and they were impressed.”

Jimmy Clausen has erased all doubts. He isn’t all pedigree and pizazz. Not just a golden boy quarterback with a throwing motion that belongs on Mount Olympus (where do you think Zeus learned to hurl his lightning bolts?). Not just a spoiled rich kid, who was lucky enough to play on a high school team with more NFLer’s than some actual NFL teams (the Cleveland Browns come to mind), bumping up his status in the mind of recruitniks everywhere.

He is heart. He is a leader that can will his teammates to victory. No deficit is too much. No game too tough. No throw too difficult. And as good as all of this is, remember that most of all, he has balls. Balls that will be on display every Saturday (hopefully leading Notre Dame to victory), and hopefully (for Kordell and other gay men across America) he will follow the lead of Cal Naughton Jr., and do a spread for Playgirl magazine. (Though his balls are so big, the photographer will not be able to stand back far enough to get them on the page fully).