Penn State football: Sean Clifford’s mobility may no longer be an issue

Penn State football quarterback, Sean Clifford’s speed, was a weak spot. Now, that may no longer be the case.

Over the last three seasons, the Penn State football program felt quite spoiled over the fact that they had an experienced quarterback under center who ran the offense perfectly. Like many NCAA teams nowadays, the Nittany Lions offense benefits from a quarterback who can essentially do it all. McSorley was a decent passer, but his mobility made him the best threat he could be.

Now, McSorley is out of the picture, though. And his replacement Tommy Stevens — he’s gone as well. So redshirt Sophomore quarterback Sean Clifford will go to battle with freshman Will Levis for the number one spot, but many expect Clifford to win based off of his past experience. Don’t get it wrong though, Clifford doesn’t have much experience either.

With only seven pass attempts and five competitions, Clifford’s game experience alone cannot win him the starting position. Fortunately, his progress in the offseason has created quite a buzz, and it surely sounds like his campaign for QB1 is going to plan. We know Clifford as a solid passer, as he was recruited as a four-star, pro-style quarterback out of Ohio.

However, passing is only half the battle in the Penn State offense. When it’s all said and done, Clifford could exceed McSorley’s numbers as a passer, given that’s where he thrives in the first place. But Lions’ head coach James Franklin made it quite clear to Clifford that if he wants to run this offense to the best of his ability, he needs to be able to run the football himself.

Clifford wasn’t slow when he was recruited — but he wasn’t exactly all that fast either. So Franklin wanted to change that. A couple of years ago, he pulled Clifford to the side and mentioned that he would like to see more athleticism from Clifford later on down the line. Well, later on down the line is here, and Clifford has clocked in much faster than he initially was. Perfect timing.

Believe it or not: Clifford is faster than McSorley

On Saturday, the media was in attendance at the Nittany Lions second summer practice session. And when PennLive’s Bob Flounders had the opportunity to talk with Clifford about the upcoming season, he would find out that all of the question marks surrounding Clifford’s potential inability to run the mobile-friendly offense to perfection could all be one giant myth.

"“I mean, I did run 4.5 here,’’ Clifford said, noting that his career-best 40 time occurred this year. I definitely ran (close to) or better than Trace did. It’s (my) new best, for sure. I haven’t run this fast since, ever.’”"

Clifford believes one of his latest 40 times was quicker than McSorley’s — Franklin then confirmed that was the case as he mentioned Clifford tested faster than McSorley at their last event he was involved in. Despite the concerns over the previous few months, Clifford is more than ready to run the offense the same way the Lions did with Trace McSorley.