Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472993
A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 31 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M QUARTERBACKS First guiding Penn State to an upset win at Wisconsin to open the season, he led the Lions to their second victory against a ranked opponent in three weeks with a 28-20 takedown of Auburn. El- evating from a No. 21 preseason ranking up to No. 4 in time for a showdown at No. 3 Iowa in October, its record an unblem- ished 5-0 by that point, Penn State's season took a U-turn. The veteran quar- terback got hurt against the Hawkeyes, his performances suffered and the Nit- tany Lions followed suit, finishing out the year with a disappointing 7-6 record. Clifford has publicly and privately moved past all of it. In interviews, he's refused to revisit a subject that he con- siders to be a waste of time and energy to his current aspirations, which have expanded athletically, personally and professionally since the end of the 2021 season. With the formation of Limitless NIL, an agency launched in April aiming to maximize name, image and likeness ex- periences for student-athletes, Clifford has merged all those aspirations into one. He has teamed with a small leader- ship group of contemporaries, including younger brother Liam, a redshirt fresh- man wideout for the Nittany Lions, to give the company a unique and beneficial perspective in the space, with Clifford's NIL experiences leading the way. Cautioning that other agencies in the burgeoning world of NIL aren't neces- sarily in it for the athlete, Clifford said the motives behind Limitless NIL are meant to stand as a differentiator. "I want it to be the greatest agency in NIL, not because it makes the most money, but because it makes the most money and we are helping athletes in the back end. It's not just about them mak- ing a million dollars. It's not. That's not what I'm trying to do," Clifford said. "I'm trying to give them all the extra things that you don't get through sport. We identified what it takes to be a student- athlete, where are the holes, and how can an agency fill those holes now through NIL. We kind of solved that issue." Acknowledging that the NIL money is real, Clifford has had a firsthand look at the exploding market since its inception on July 1, 2021. He had lent his name to advertising partnerships both locally and regionally, and his hustle has earned him north of six figures personally. (Editor's note: Clifford declined to specify his to- tal earnings for this story.) That hasn't meant the business has been free of issues and challenges, though. The company is determined to build on a foundation of operating ethi- cally, centered on the student-athlete experience first. Its mission is to grow the athlete's brand, then take care of ev- erything from there. "If you're a Limitless athlete, when you go to a company, and when we vouch for our athletes for companies, it's not transactional. We're trying to create transformational change," Clifford said. "Transformational over transactional, because if you switch your mindset to think about it as transformational, the moment that the business then realizes that you're in their court, and it's not just you taking money, now you want to grow their business, they want to grow you. "When you're doing all these deliv- erables, they're going to start talking about equity. They're going to start talk- ing about stock options. They're going to start talking about profit or revenue share. All those things that nobody's talking about yet because everyone's just so focused on X coach giving out a mil- lion dollars." "It's about realizing you're in the moment before the moment, so that way you can enjoy it even more. I'm prepared for those moments and I'm going to enjoy them so much because I know how valuable they are and because you can't get them back." C L I F F O R D Already experienced in leading and making critical decisions on the field as the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback, Clifford is now doing the same off the field as CEO and founder of Limitless NIL, a unique sports marketing and branding agency for college student-athletes. PHOTO BY STEVE MANUEL