Sean Clifford is back for a sixth year and the three-year Nittany Lion starter has seen it all. New coordinators, a pandemic, coaching rumors, quarterback battles and an uncertain future beyond State College. He has battled through injuries and both good seasons and bad. There isn’t much Clifford has yet to experience, and that’s good and bad news.
So stability? The chance to play – for the first time in his Penn State career – under the same offensive coordinator two years in a row? Yea, that goes a long way towards making the decision to play at Penn State for one more season.
“That was definitely one of the most appealing factors that played into it,” Clifford said Friday of his choice to return. “It was having an offensive coordinator for two years, back-to-back. I have yet to have that as a starter. To be honest with you, it has been difficult at times just because you can’t really go back to look at the tape and say, ‘Alright, we’re going to grow on this play, this play, this play,’ because there’s new plays coming in the door.
“There’s a lot of value in that that is underappreciated.”
Of course all eyes will be on Clifford this season with five-star quarterback Drew Allar waiting in the wings. There is a blessing and a curse that comes with being a four-year starter, it’s enough time for occasionally fickle fans to have seen your good and your bad and to many have grown tired of both.
But to Clifford’s credit he is much better in 2021 and than he was in 2020, and he’s hoping that another year with offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich will help him take that next step once again.
“I think with Coach Yurcich, he’s taught me a lot about progressions, staying in the pocket, eyes downfield, and just being a field general,” Clifford said. “I think that we have a lot of room to grow, I think this offense can only go up. We have a lot of different things that we can mess around with in game plans and wrinkles, but the foundation has kind of been set.”
When it’s all said and done, Clifford’s decision to return might be a dose of pragmatism as well. He can profit from Name Image and Likeness initiatives, he can possibly improve his NFL Draft stock, and he can continue to play football. Because when it’s all said and done, making it to the NFL, and actually playing are two very different things. So there’s no time like the present to do what you love, especially if you are unsure of your future.
“A lot of people were wondering whether taking a sixth year was a tough decision, but in the end, I love football and I want to keep playing football as long as possible,” Clifford said.
