Ready or not? James Franklin mum on QB Sean Clifford status ahead of Illini

His answer sounded genuine.

Meeting with the media Wednesday evening, Penn State head coach James Franklin was immediately asked about the status of fifth-year senior quarterback Sean Clifford.

The Nittany Lions’ signal-caller had been seen by reporters and media on hand for the program’s weekly, limited open practice time. And, just 11 days after exiting Penn State’s 23-20 loss at No. 3 Iowa in the second quarter, Clifford participated in every element as his fellow quarterbacks, Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux.

What’s it mean for Penn State’s game with Illinois on Saturday afternoon (noon, ABC) at Beaver Stadium?

Franklin offered his perspective on Clifford’s situation, and more, Wednesday evening:

If Franklin knows, he’s not letting on.

“Not sure at this stage,” he said, one day after noting that Roberson and Veilleux would “split reps” at practice this week, without elaboration. “All three of them took reps, a third, a third, a third. We'll see. I don't know at this stage. But we'll see where he's at by Saturday.

“Hopefully, obviously we’ll have an idea before that. But it was good to see him be able to get some reps today at practice, and all three of them (get reps).”

Those were, predictably, not the last words Franklin would say about Clifford in his 12-minute post-practice session with the media.

Acknowledging readily that Penn State’s offense would have to change significantly if Clifford wasn’t able to go - something we’ll get to here momentarily - Franklin was later asked whether or not Clifford’s participation in practice Wednesday was his first time throwing since the injury.

Franklin’s answer was succinct.

“Today was not the first day that Sean was able to throw,” he said.

Here’s how it looked when he did:

With Clifford appearing to have the potential to play Saturday, the next step of the process shifted toward the timeline in which Franklin and Penn State will need to make a decision.

Point blank, Franklin made plain the reality that the Nittany Lions can wait on Clifford being cleared until late in the process if it means their starting quarterback is back on the field.

"I think we would all agree that we'd like Sean back, so we'll adjust and do what we have to do,” Franklin said. “We want to be able to invest our time where we think we're going to get the greatest return, and that's hard to say.”

Noting that status reports can change for a player’s health or participation within the same day, sometimes as few as a few hours apart, the result for Penn State is a situation in which it is playing the waiting game.

“I think your term ‘fluid’ is a good word to describe kind of where we're at right now, and just kind of take it day by day,” Franklin said. “We want to try to make sure like we always do, that the guys that are going to play the most reps in the game, the starters, are getting the majority of the reps, and that's hard to say right now."

And what if Clifford isn’t able to give it a go?

Coming off a performance of just 7 completions out of 20 attempts for 30 yards passing in relief of Clifford in Iowa, Roberson and, pretty naturally, the possibility of Veilleux coming in to start Saturday would shift the look of Penn State’s offense.

In effect, those changes would be dictated by the players themselves.

“It changes. I think with Sean, there's a lot of things we can do,” Franklin said. “I wouldn't necessarily say that our offense will change stylistically, but you want to say, OK, Ta'Quan, what do you feel really good about? What are the 15 normal downs plays, what are the five third-down plays, what are the five red-zone plays that you feel best about? And rep those as much as you possibly can.

“And then it’s the same thing with Christian Veilleux. But we'll see how that goes. That will be a conversation that we'll need to have."

Clifford wasn’t the only Nittany Lion in need of some serious R&R coming out of the Oct. 9 game at Iowa.

With five players in all leaving the field, unable to return, and P.J. Mustipher among them lost for the season, Penn State’s opportunity to get off its feet was one the program needed, Franklin said.

"I don't want to get back into that whole discussion, but we had a bunch of injuries in the Iowa game, a bunch of guys that got knocked out and did not come back,” Franklin said. “That's a physical football team. It was a physical game. So yeah, from that perspective, we were fortunate to have the bye to get a lot of those guys healthy and back.”

The news from Penn State’s practice Wednesday afternoon was both good and bad to that end.

With Clifford back participating in, at minimum, the session witnessed by the media, as well as the return of Jonathan Sutherland among the safeties after leaving the Iowa game and not returning, the Nittany Lions’ downside appeared at running back.

With Noah Cain getting the first reps in individual drills, backed up by Keyvone Lee, the Nittany Lions were still without both Devyn Ford, who started the game at Iowa, and Baylor transfer John Lovett at practice.

Asked specifically about the position and Cain’s performance, the redshirt sophomore second on the team in rushing yards with 67 carries to Lee’s 38, Franklin said the job remains available to the personnel at hand.

"It's kind of how it's been all year long,” Franklin said. “Until somebody takes ownership of that job we'll rotate all those guys; all the guys that are available."

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