Trying to shed last season, Clifford shifts focus this spring
In the wake of a disastrous performance at quarterback to open the 2020 season, Penn State head coach James Franklin has reframed the conversation at the position this spring for Sean Clifford.
Welcoming new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich into the program, with a fifth-year quarterback at the helm, the slate has effectively been wiped clean ahead of the 2021 season. And although the temptation exists to want or expect something resembling a finished, refined product at quarterback this spring, the Nittany Lions are content to turn their collective attention to something more immediate.
Specifically, that has taken the form of instigating, fostering and ensuring daily development.
“The quarterback work is important. I think Sean's done some really good things this spring,” Franklin said. “I think Mike has been impressed in terms of Sean's approach. It's really important to Sean. He works hard at it. He prepares like you're supposed to prepare.”
That preparation, Penn State is convinced, will lead the program toward an improvement that took six games to materialize last season.
Without play-by-playing a well-worn story at this point, that Clifford finished his second season as a starter completing 152 of 251 passes for 1,883 yards and 16 touchdowns, offset dramatically by nine interceptions and a crucial sequence of costly fumbles among his 99 rush attempts for 335 yards, proved to be one of the program’s biggest shortcomings in a season-gone-wrong in nearly every respect. Implicitly acknowledging that Clifford was far from alone in leading the Nittany Lions to the overall failings of an 0-5 start, however, the magnitude of consequence has, at least for now, been something the quarterback has worked to diminish in recent months.
Instead, finding satisfaction in the opportunity to improve each day, through a holistic approach that allows the grander picture to be shrunken considerably, Clifford’s vantage point has shifted.
“I’ve started to focus and hone in this year on just taking it one day at a time because that's all that I can control. I can't control what happens game day against Wisconsin right now. That's out of my control,” he said Saturday afternoon. “But at the same time, I can control what I do tomorrow, what film I watch, what I do with my body. I can control that practice when it comes along. It's just taking it every single day. It's relaxing at night so that way I make sure that I'm ready for tomorrow, to get rehab, and film up, and all that.”
Putting those words to life each day, Clifford has found a public advocate and ally in Yurcich this spring.
Describing Clifford as a “football guy” who “prepares like a pro,” Yurcich indicated Saturday that the personal characteristics to have success are within the quarterback. Recognizing the uneven performance Clifford had in front of the 7,500 spectators at Beaver Stadium to see Clifford for the first time since capping the season with a win against Illinois, however, Yurcich also allowed for and embraced the bottom line at hand.
Having made progress so far, considerable work remains for Clifford ahead of a Sept. 4 trip to Madison, Wis. Crediting him for his understanding and mastering of protections, essential to minimizing “any disruption from the defense” at the position, Yurcich also put a specific area for improvement at Clifford’s feet in the coming weeks and months.
“Where he can improve the most is probably just the progressions and anticipation. There's a lot of new on his plate right now, and it's one of those things where you kind of don't know until you get thrown in there and have to feel it,” Yurcich said. “He's just got to get his eyes where they need to be more consistently on every play, but that's going to happen with his work ethic and with this determination. He's a smart guy. It's just a matter of time, it's a matter of reps, and that's what this spring's all about.”
Whether 136 days separating Clifford and the Nittany Lions from the Badgers is enough to rectify those areas for improvements is, at present, unknown. But in bringing an attitude of positivity undeterred by the setbacks and criticisms that helped to create the conditions for the disappointment of five months ago, Clifford is determined to see it come to be.
“There's not much frustration right now. I'm content with where I'm at,” Clifford told reporters Saturday. “Last season was last season, so there's nothing really to harp on now. I'm just excited to have this new fresh start with this team. It's a bunch of guys who are hard working. This is one of my favorite teams that I've had to be a part of, and it's really exciting to come in and lead every day, because everybody's willing to listen, and everybody's willing to be here, and everybody wants to be here.
“I think that from an offensive perspective, I think that we're growing every day. We've installed a lot. We've had an install pretty much every single day. So you just have to learn to adapt and grow on the fly and learn. You just got to retain all this information and make sure that you're getting everything before practice… I think that's what Coach Yurcich does so well is, he pushes us to another level. Before, I looked at everything one way, but Coach Yurcich just brought another level of competition and another level of focus to me and showed me a different side. I'm excited about it, I know that he is, and I'm excited to see how the offense grows from here.”
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