Two former Penn State quarterbacks NFL cut-day casualties

Penn State's last two starting quarterbacks, Trace McSorley and Sean Clifford were both released from their NFL rosters on cut-down day as training camps come to an end across the league. McSorley was let go by the Washington Commanders and Clifford from the Green Bay Packers. Both are now free agents. 

McSorley has had multiple opportunities as a starting quarterback and has played in nine NFL games for two different teams. He has only completed 51.6% of his 93 career pass attempts with only one touchdown throw to five interceptions. At 29 years old, his training camp stint in D.C. could have been his last opportunity to find a long-term home in the league.

Clifford, however, attempted just one pass and only saw action in two regular season games during his lone season with Green Bay. The Packers traded a seventh-round pick for former Liberty quarterback Malik Willis to replace Clifford as Jordan Love’s backup. 

Meanwhile, Will Levis, a 2023 second-round pick, is gearing up for his first full season as the starter in Tennessee. Last season in nine games, Levis threw for 1,808 yards and eight touchdowns with four interceptions. He is tentatively the quarterback of the future for the Titans, but at Penn State, James Franklin never gave him a chance to beat out Clifford, who finished his career as the program’s all-time leading passer, but never beat Ohio State. 

The NFL fates of McSorley and especially Clifford, who, unlike his Penn State predecessor, does have the physical size to play in the league, may prove that Franklin needed to upgrade the talent at the most important position on the field. There are plenty of reasons that Penn State has fallen firmly behind Ohio State and Michigan, which have both won national titles since Franklin arrived in Happy Valley, but that could be the biggest.

Franklin got the message in 2022 when he landed Drew Allar, the top QB recruit in the country, but heading into his junior year, there are still big questions about his ability to get the Nittany Lions over the hump and into the College Football Playoff. Somehow, there are even bigger questions about the supporting cast around the former five-star.

If Allar lives up to his potential, then he could be a first or second-round pick in the NFL draft, as soon as this spring. Simply on his physical traits at 6-foot-5 235 pounds and his high school pedigree, Allar has a better chance to stick in the league than McSorley and Clifford ever did. If Allar puts together a prolific season, then he'll quickly become a coveted prospect.

Since Franklin took over in 2014, Ohio State has produced three first-round NFL quarterbacks, Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields, and C.J. Stroud. Even Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy went No. 10 overall to the Minnesota Vikings in the 2024 NFL Draft.