Penn State Football: Sean Clifford’s 2018 season offers excitement

Penn State football’s Sean Clifford was a college unknown entering 2018. He leaves the season as someone who could challenge for the 2019 starting job.

The future for Penn State football’s future at the quarterback position appeared set. With Trace McSorley in his final season entering 2018, Tommy Stevens looked to take the reins for 2019. He’s waited for four years to be QB1 of the Nittany Lions, and he’ll likely get that job with his experience, athletic ability and production. However, soon-to-be sophomore QB Sean Clifford could make things interesting and will provide this team with another talented signal caller for the future.

With no snaps in his career at the start of 2018 due to a redshirt in 2017, Clifford made an impression on Penn State’s coaches and fans. He connected on all five of his passes during the regular season. The most impressive part, none of the completions came on dink-and-dunk routes. He hit the long ball with accuracy, touch, power, all of it.

He came out and played like a confident gunslinger. In the nasty, muddy conditions against Pitt, he went deep, finding Brandon Polk on a corner route for an over-the-shoulder dime for a 34-yard score. Not bad for his first career pass, but he became somewhat of a reserve legend for his play beyond that game. He then hit all three of his pass attempts against Kent State for 113 yards and a 95-yard touchdown pass to Daniel George. Finally, he wrapped up the reserve play, completing his only pass of the Illinois game for 44 yards to Mac Hippenhammer.

In total, his stat line was 5-for-5 for 195 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions before throwing two incompletions in the Citrus Bowl. His passer rating of 469.6 at the time was absurd. Onward State had some fun, saying he was the Greatest Quarterback of All Time in a September article. It’s obviously a joke, but Clifford seriously dropped some dimes. He gained somewhat of a following and became a fan favorite without starting one game.

With his powerful arm and underrated mobility, he’s going to make a name for himself at Penn State. He came to Happy Valley as a highly-touted, four-star recruit. During his high school career, he won a state championship and accounted for more than 5,000 total yards, while earning Elite 11 honors.

With McSorley and Stevens ahead of him over the last few years, he wasn’t talked about much. But, he’s a player. He’s going to start one day and give Penn State another great QB in the line of fantastic passers at Penn State.