It goes without saying that so far Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford has had a much better season in 2021 than he did in 2020.
Why? A few things come into play. Clifford has largely avoided turnovers, has not been plagued by high sack totals and has made smart decisions with his arm and his legs. If Clifford looked uncertain about his decision-making in last year, he has looked poised, confident and sure of himself this time around.
But as Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich pointed out on Thursday afternoon, while Clifford has made strides in his own right, so too have many of the things around him.
“It’s about protection, right?” Yurcich said Thursday over Zoom. “It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s Sean, it’s Sean, it’s Sean. How Sean improved, Sean improved, Sean improved.’ Dude, it’s a team game. So the protection is better, and that’s going to help Sean, right? Protection’s poor, quarterback’s going to look poor. I don’t know what to tell you. That’s been the case.
“I think he’s improved, but I think it’s so relative to what we’re doing up front and how we’re pass protecting better. I’m not going to sit here and take credit for it. The offensive line deserves a lot of credit, the receivers deserve a lot of credit. Tight ends and running backs, they’ve done a great job. We need to continue to build on that.”
There’s something to be said for a quarterback’s quality of life improving his quality of play. Just ask former Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg who was sacked 44 times in 2014 and 39 more times in 2015. If you’re running for your life and looking over your shoulder during every single play it’s hard to get comfortable.
And to Clifford’s credit he has taken his fair share of hits, even if he has only been sacked eight times this season through 337 offensive snaps, or one snap every 42 plays.
“I think Sean has made up his mind to be a tough SOB and to stand in there and keep his eyes downfield on a consistent basis. That needs to continue to grow,” Yurcich said.
In turn one would be hard pressed to find much fault in Clifford’s play so far this year. He hasn’t always been perfect but still finds himself ranked the No. 22 overall quarterback in passer rating [160.48] a mark that would put him seven points higher than either of Trace McSorley’s years as a starter – while completing just over 67% of his passes.
It also doesn’t hurt that Penn State is catching most of its passes. While McSorley was plagued with drops in 2018, the Nittany Lions have been led by a sure-handed Jahan Dotson and have largely followed in his footsteps with reliable play when the ball hits their hands.
Clifford has also been smart with his legs, and creative with his eyes down the field. On more than a few occasions this season Clifford has appeared prepared to scramble only to throw the ball for big gains at the last possible second.
“He’s got to have that creativity. You don’t want to handcuff the kid,” Yurcich said. “So how you manage that and how you coach that, to me, is the secret sauce, really. And that’s the fun of it all and getting to know one another and good conversations, man. It’s kind of like, with a guy like Sean, you have football conversations. It’s not all one-way communication. You want to learn from him, ‘What did you see? How did you feel of it? OK, next time, think about this, keep this in your mind.’ And you’re just trying to help him out as much as you can. At the end of the day, my man’s got to make some plays.”
And if Clifford continues to make plays on Saturday, his line continues to block and his receivers continue to catch, the NIttany Lions will give Iowa all it can handle in a Top 5 clash.
“His mentality has been very even-keel and poised,” Yurcich said. “He’s a fiery person by nature, but he’s able to stay calm and adjust, and with as much experience as Sean has, I think the biggest attribute that he has is the poise that he has. He can regroup if things aren’t going great and get back into rhythm, and so that’s something that I think is unique about him and is a really good quality that any quarterback should have.”
