Penn State Sports Magazine
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4 2 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M E D I T O R I A L MATT HERB MATT.HERB@ON3.COM W hen he reported to Green Bay for rookie minicamp after having been selected by the Packers in the fifth round of the NFL Draft in late April, quarterback Sean Clifford dis- covered that he had been assigned the locker stall that just weeks earlier had belonged to Aaron Rodgers. With his trade to the Jets in April, Rodgers' professional home is New York, but his ultimate destination is Canton, Ohio, where he will someday be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. By immediately handing his locker over to Clifford, the Packers seemed to be inviting the kind of com- parisons that might unnerve a rookie quarterback whose selection caught the nation's armchair draft analysts off-guard. But the former Nittany Lion didn't see any portents, positive or negative, in the assignment. "It's a locker to me," he told report- ers. "I'm just excited to be in the locker room with these guys. As long as you see your name, right?" Right. Clifford had said before the draft that all he needed was for a front of- fice somewhere to give him a chance. In Green Bay, he found his people. Or rather, his people found him. It's not hard to imagine the Packers' brass looking at what Brock Purdy did in San Francisco last year, helping lead the 49ers to the NFC Championship Game after being selected with the very last pick in the 2022 draft, and noticing that Clifford, a four-year collegiate starter with an abundance of school records, had a very similar bio. Whether he has the skills to prosper at football's highest level is a question that will be answered in the months to come. In the meantime, we do know this: Clifford absolutely has the resil- ience to handle the setbacks that are an unavoidable part of nearly every rookie's introduction to the league. He showed that resilience as an Ohio prep player, recovering from a sprained foot and torn hamstring to lead St. Xavier High to a state championship during his senior year. In the Division I title game against Ohio powerhouse St. Ignatius, he guided the Bombers to a double-overtime win despite playing with a shoulder injury that required surgery the following month. At Penn State, Clifford bounced back from a benching in 2020 that followed a string of early-season turnovers, leading the Lions to wins in their final four games. He played through what appeared to be a serious rib injury the following year, never missing a start for a PSU team that didn't have a viable backup for much of the season. Last fall, Clifford absorbed one of the more wince-inducing hits of the entire season. He was sprinting toward the first-down marker when Auburn linebacker Owen Pappoe lit him up, sending Clifford and the football fly- ing backward on separate trajectories. Clifford got right back up on his feet after that first-quarter hit and went on to complete 14 of 19 passes for 178 yards in PSU's 41-12 victory. "Salute to him, getting up from a hard hit like that," Pappoe said after the game. Clifford showed resilience off the field, too. A four-year starter at the most scrutinized position on the field, he likely caught as much flak as any player in Penn State history. After tossing 3 interceptions in a 31-26 loss at Minnesota in 2019, he said he re- ceived "some pretty explicit and pretty tough-to-read messages," including death threats. "It's kind of sad to say," he explained, "but you know how some fans get." Through it all, Clifford never failed to take the high road. At every turn, he resisted the temptation to fire back at his critics, and when he ended his career with what had to have been an immensely satisfying valedictory mo- ment — a 35-21 Rose Bowl win over Utah in which he threw for 279 yards and 2 touchdowns — he offered noth- ing remotely like an I-told-you-so. "I just can't thank everybody enough for my experience at Penn State," he said. "I cherished every minute of it, the ups and downs. I just couldn't be more thankful." Clifford's unwavering positivity makes him an easy player to root for now that he's embarking on a pro ca- reer. You don't have to be a Packers fan to take an interest in where he goes from here. You just need to have an appreciation for the qualities that he's brought to every locker room he's been a part of — leadership, intelligence, resourcefulness and, of course, resil- ience. Clifford may end up a star or a jour- neyman. Maybe he'll find that it's time to get on with his life's work. But if the Packers were taking a chance by select- ing him as early as they did, they took it on the right guy. He has the potential to make them better — just as he did for Penn State. ■ Clifford won 32 games during his four seasons in charge of Penn State's offense. It was the most victories by a starting quarterback in school history and included a pair of New Year's Six bowl wins. PHOTO BY DANIEL ALTHOUSE For Sean Clifford, A Next-Level Opportunity VARSITY VIEWS