Southland Passers Quite a Catch

You can change the way they talk, exposing them to strange accents and teammates named Billy Bob.

You can change their diet, introducing them to grits and Cajun cooking.

You can change the way they dress, taking away their baggy shorts and sandals and replacing them with overcoats and cowboy boots.

But no matter how far from home they attend college, the quarterbacks who grew up in sun-drenched, pass-happy Southern California have no intention of relinquishing their Hollywood-learned swagger and beach-loving free spirit.

“I’m from California and I’m a California kid,” Tennessee quarterback Casey Clausen said proudly, the latest adopted son of the South and heir apparent to Peyton Manning.

He’s not alone in making the transition to unfamiliar territory. There are at least 10 Southern California natives starting at quarterback for NCAA Division I-A schools this fall, and close to an equal number serving as backups.

Although some stayed close to home at Pacific 10 Conference schools, others packed their bags and boarded planes to Florida, Indiana, Texas, Nevada and elsewhere.

They are determined to take advantage of their Southern California upbringing and spread the gift of passing the football to other parts of the country.

College coaches have long viewed Southern California as the promised land for plucking away high school quarterbacks.

The year-round warm weather, the emphasis on summer passing leagues, the variety of passing offenses and the availability of competent quarterback coaches are reasons for the strong demand in high school quarterbacks from Southern California.

Just look what Clausen has accomplished. Only months after graduating from Mission Hills Alemany High, Clausen became the starter at midseason as a true freshman at Tennessee, guiding the Volunteers to six consecutive victories while completing 62.4% of his passes.

“What helped me most was the competition I played against in high school,” Clausen said. “Playing against Bishop Amat, Santa Margarita, St. Paul, Notre Dame ... every single game you play, you’re being challenged.”

Brandon Hance, who led Woodland Hills Taft to the 1998 City Section championship, won his debut at Purdue last week as the replacement for Drew Brees. Chris Rix, who attended Santa Margarita and La Puente Bishop Amat, has taken over as the starter for Chris Weinke at Florida State.

Veterans Carson Palmer from Santa Margarita and Jonathan Smith from Glendora return as starters at USC and Oregon State, respectively. Greg Cicero, who played for Anaheim Servite, is injury-free again and starting at Baylor.

Jason Thomas, who chose USC out of Compton Dominguez High before transferring to Nevada Las Vegas after losing the job to Palmer, is coming off a sophomore season in which he passed for 1,708 yards and rushed for 599 yards.

Newhall Hart, which has produced 16 consecutive seasons of All-Southern Section quarterbacks, has Kyle Boller starting at California and David Neill at Nevada, with Kyle Matter a backup at Stanford.

Around the country, J.P. Losman from Venice is a backup at Tulane. Scott McEwan from Thousand Oaks and Ryan McCann from Agoura are backups at UCLA. Matt Cassel from Chatsworth is the backup at USC. Chris Lewis from Long Beach Poly is the backup at Stanford. Rick Clausen from Woodland Hills Taft, Casey’s younger brother, is a backup at Louisiana State. All are waiting to be called upon in case of injury or ineffectiveness.

Neill, entering his fourth season as a starter, is an example of what can happen when a talented Southern California quarterback receives exceptional coaching and trains year-round at the high school level.

“When you play in 50 passing tournaments in the summer, you get real comfortable, learn to read defenses and progress,” he said. “I was well prepared.”

Neill smartly chose a school in need of a quarterback. Others have signed with schools three quarterbacks deep and regretted the decision when forced to decide whether to transfer or risk never playing.

“The ability to come in and play--that was one of the main reasons I chose Nevada,” Neill said. “Being able to play in some 40 college football games is really a benefit. You have to know who’s there at the school now and who are the possibilities of coming in.”

Thomas was caught in a difficult situation at USC. He contemplated whether to stay and switch positions or transfer. UNLV ended up being an option he couldn’t refuse. He wanted to prove he could play quarterback.

“I just had to believe in myself,” he said. “There are a lot of scenarios where guys stay and it works out. It just happened mine worked out best for me and worked out well for Carson and USC, too. It won’t be a black cloud during my time there. I just had to go to a different school. I cherish all my friends and all my memories at USC. I’m glad it worked out best for everyone.”

Thomas enjoys watching quarterback highlights from players he used to compete against in high school. He and five other Southland quarterbacks made their season debuts on ESPN, ESPN2 or Fox Sports Net last week.

“There’s so much talent and it’s so widespread,” he said. “L.A. is a big city. There are a lot of quarterback tutors and passing league is a bigger emphasis than other places. It’s great for me to watch college football on Saturdays because I’m always seeing somebody I know, whether watching Pac-10 or Big Ten. We all still talk and root for each other.”

The reputation of Southern California quarterbacks shows no signs of waning. Ben Olson of Thousand Oaks is rated No. 1 in the nation by some recruiting experts. Matt Moore of Hart should be the fourth consecutive Indian quarterback to accept a Division I scholarship.

And then there’s Jimmy Clausen, Casey’s 13-year-old brother. He went to Tennessee this summer to participate in a football camp. He was put in with high school sophomores and juniors even though he’s a seventh grader at Chaminade Middle School in Chatsworth.

“He was throwing slants, hitches, fades and the high school coaches were telling Coach [Phillip] Fulmer, ‘We don’t care what grade he’s in, we want him now,”’ Casey said.

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Eric Sondheimer can be reached at eric.sondheimer@latimes.com