By Joe Davidson -- Sacramento Bee Staff Writer; Originally published Friday, May 27, 2005Of all the movies for Sam Clemons to make his debut in, this one seemed so perfect."The Longest Yard." That's Clemons' football odyssey, in miles traveled and options searched just to get a chance to throw for a few yards.Clemons is the Oak Ridge High School product who has plied his football trade at virtually every level, in two countries, indoors and outdoors, right on down to the big screen, where he found another way to earn a sweaty buck. In the remake of the 1974 movie that hits theaters today, Clemons is the stunt double for Adam Sandler, who plays ex-football great Paul Crewe as the inmate ordered to engineer a contest between the prisoners and the guards in an anything-goes scrum.Clemons said he got paid "more last summer than any season of playing pro football." And the paradox is that while Clemons was trying frantically to register some sort of blip on the overall football radar all these years, he was good enough to be recommended to the writers and directors of the motion picture to play this particular role."Best summer job I ever had," Clemons said from his hotel room in Bettendorf, Ill., near where he starts at real-life quarterback for the Quad City Steamwheelers of arenafootball2, a spinoff of the Arena Football League in smaller markets. "The funny thing is they tracked me down for this. I had no idea. I get this call and someone asks me if I'm interested and I'm: 'Yeah, sure! Is this for real?' "Last spring and summer, Clemons and former NFL quarterback Sean Salisbury worked with Sandler for nearly a month to polish up his look as a passer. They had him practice mechanics and throws and scrambles. After that, for 2 1/2 months, there were scenes shot in an abandoned prison in New Mexico, followed by 3 1/2 months of arduous work in Los Angeles."I had a great time," Clemons said. "It was exhausting, though, 12-hour days."Clemons also made sure he was the double who specialized in the passes for the movie, not the poor double who gets splattered a half-dozen times.Not that Clemons doesn't know a thing or two about being flat on his back, in body and spirit.Clemons was Cal's quarterback early in the 2000 season but was yanked in favor of Kyle Boller, who went on to become a first-round draft pick of the Baltimore Ravens. Clemons transferred to Division I-AA Western Illinois, where he set passing records, before the bouncing began again.He had Arena Football League tryouts with Los Angeles and San Jose. He went to a Dallas Cowboys camp session. He gave it a go with the Ottawa Renegades of the CFL. With his options exhausted, he said, he drove home, to El Dorado Hills, wondering if it was time to get a real job.He had job offers from the Secret Service and to work as a college assistant. He also got an invite from a Chicago-based semipro team in 2003. His friends told him he was nuts to consider the invitation. He went anyway."It's definitely been humbling," Clemons said. "I learned a great deal of humility and perseverance."After one stellar game with the semipro team, the AFL's Chicago Rush signed him for backup duty. He also was a backup with Dallas of the AFL. On May 6, he landed with the Steamwheelers. In seven games, Clemons has passed for 1,857 yards and 35 touchdowns. His teammates initially ribbed him about his movie role, but there aren't a lot of laughs these days. Quad Cities has lost three straight after a 3-1 start."He may turn out to be the best quarterback in this league before long," Steamwheelers coach Rick Frazier said. "When you're the show pony in this league, when every play goes through your hands like Sam, you feel it. No one feels worse than Sam right now about our team."It's neat that he's in that movie, but right now, we have to focus. Are we doing movies or are we playing real football?"It's all very real for Clemons. He wants another shot in the AFL. He's not married, has no kids, so he can afford to do this now. He's 26, with plenty of time left before venturing into another line of work, perhaps even another football movie."People who know me tell me: 'You have the rest of your life to work. Man, I wish I was doing what you're doing,' " Clemons said.And that was before they realized he had a movie bit.