Sean Clifford’s experience won Penn State football’s QB battle

James Franklin recently explained why Sean Clifford was the winner of Penn State football’s quarterback battle.

Competition is everything for the Penn State football program. You can’t enter into Happy Valley with the assumption that a spot cannot be earned by being the better player in practice. While seniority and experience can give a player the upper-hand, at the end of the day, nobody’s spot on the roster is locked in until it is earned in camp.

This offseason, head coach James Franklin was especially remaining focused on the quarterback position. Being that Trace McSorley is now out of the picture, it was time to figure out who they were going to move on with. Initially, Tommy Stevens was being prepped for the position, but he up and left for the SEC months ago.

Stevens’ departure left redshirt sophomore Sean Clifford and freshman Will Levis as the two passers who are competing for the starting position in 2019. While Clifford was assumed to take over the spot, the Lions’ offensive coaching staff refused to hand over the duties without a proper competition during the summer. Therefore, Levis and Clifford prepared to go to battle.

Up until this past weekend, there wasn’t a clear winner. As offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne mentioned, the Lions weren’t going to make their pick until they were at least ‘ninety percent sure.’  As Penn State wrapped up their final summer practice and transitioned into focusing on week one of the regular season, Franklin was asked if a decision has been made.

At the time, the Penn State coach swore it hadn’t been discussed. Then, a few days later, the Lions’ official Twitter account tweeted out a quick highlight video of Sean Clifford in practice, labeling him as Penn State’s QB1 — confirming his spot as the winner of the passing battle in the offseason.

The decision wasn’t easy

Before camp started in August, the freshman passer Will Levis was confident in himself as the competition approached. While he is more than willing to take on a role as a backup, Levis wasn’t going to just settle for it. As he acquired some first-team reps in practice, Penn State was truly intrigued with what he was bringing to the table.

However, Clifford’s experience won it all in the end. James Franklin mentioned during his press conference on Tuesday that “when it’s close like that, you’re always going to go with the older, more experienced player.” According to Penn Live’s Greg Pickel, Sean Clifford has done a great job taking on the battle and looking like an experienced veteran under center.

To Franklin, the battle wasn’t as lopsided as many believed it would be. In the end, though, Clifford’s two years of Penn State experience gave him the upper-hand in the battle. Although he’s only thrown seven pass attempts in a game setting, the practice reps that he received over time helped him out in this battle greatly.

Coach Franklin mentioned that same factor went into the initial decision to name Trace McSorley the starting quarterback over Stevens back in 2016. That ended up being the correct call. Now, we’ll see if Clifford can live up to the expectations of being a four-star passer.