How Penn State QB Sean Clifford overcame being ‘nervous’ to deliver strong performance in 1st start
Sean Clifford swore he wasn’t going to grow nervous about his first career start — “Don’t worry about me,” he told his teammates earlier in the week — but then Penn State’s blue buses pulled into a throng of cheering fans Saturday afternoon.
His pulse quickened. The roar of thousands of fans lining Curtin Road grew louder. And, he admitted, the butterflies started fluttering.
“I was like, all right, this might be a little bit nerve-wracking going in the first snap,” a smiling Clifford told reporters after Saturday’s opener against Idaho. “And, obviously going out there, yeah, I was a little bit nervous to be honest with you.”
Clifford, a redshirt sophomore, brushed those nerves away after the first two drives en route to a dominant 79-7 win. And he finished strong, going 14 of 23 for 280 passing yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another 57. But, early on, the Nittany Lions’ quarterback of the present and future proved to be human.
His hands trembled slightly on the sideline. His focus teetered; his footwork was off. And it showed. He fumbled a handoff exchange on the first drive, overthrew Pat Freiermuth on a deep attempt in the second drive and suffered a three-and-out after moving backward eight yards.
Clifford hadn’t felt that way since playing in the state title game as a high school senior. So, after trotting off the field, wideout KJ Hamler — who’s known Clifford since the eighth grade — approached his quarterback and told him to calm down. Clifford knew he was right.
“They didn’t need to tell me,” Clifford said. “I was like, I just need to clam down because I was not playing the way I knew I could play and, overall, I was kind of pissed off at myself.
“So, after that, I kind of zoned in. ... Once I got out there, I was like, footwork, stick to the basics — and the rest took care of itself.”
Did it ever. Clifford went from nervous QB1 to calm-and-collected gunslinger in a flash. On the next possession, he helped engineer a 54-yard TD drive. The possession after that led to another touchdown. And two drives after that? That’s really when Clifford came into his own.
On first down, the pocket began to collapse. Clifford stepped up to evade one defender and, with a diving end just feet from his right arm, he could’ve dumped it off to the running back just two yards away. Instead, he held it a half-second longer and hurled it 36 yards downfield into the waiting arms of a streaking Hamler. Touchdown.
“When he threw his first touchdown to me, that’s when I knew he got into the groove,” Hamler said.
Added head coach James Franklin: “He settled down and got comfortable. I thought he managed the game really well. His stats weren’t overly gaudy, but played well. Played really well.”
From that point on, Clifford was a different quarterback. He found Hamler later in the half on a 21-yard score, during a four-play, 76-yard drive that looked like this: Clifford 13-yard run, Clifford 20-yard completion, Clifford 22-yard completion, Clifford 21-yard TD pass.
“That guy’s a soldier,” running back Journey Brown said.
Clifford was pulled early in the third quarter, but he spent part of the fourth quarter relaxing on a bench with his receivers, chatting and laughing about the day. He smiled walking off the field after that final whistle and bit his lower lip when giving the victory bell a hearty tug.
The 6-foot-2 Cincinnati native — the first Ohio QB to wear No. 14 since Todd Blackledge — dreamed about this moment since he committed after his high school sophomore year. And he swore to teammates after Tommy Stevens’ surprise spring transfer that, “There will be no drop-off in the QB position.”
On Saturday, after the first two drives, there wasn’t. In fact, his first TD pass had one columnist telling Clifford it was Trace “McSorley-esque.”
Clifford began laughing uncontrollably after that line — in the middle of the question — and reporters soon followed. It was a sincere, infectious laugh — one from a quarterback who’s mostly been able to deflect the pressure that accompanies those expectations.
“I was waiting for someone to say Trace. I was waiting for someone,” he said, still laughing. “I was like, if I can go through a whole interview without hearing Trace’s name, that would be something else.
“What was the question, exactly?”
Clifford took his first career start in stride. He wasn’t perfect — those first two drives prevented that — but he also proved he can overcome a slow start, retain his composure and make big plays.
The last time he felt this nervous, during the state title game as a high school senior? He ended strong; he won in double-overtime.
And he won again Saturday. Even if the opponent was FCS Idaho, Clifford showed enough to give fans and teammates confidence about 2019.
“When you score 79 points,” Clifford said Saturday night, “it’s not a bad day at the office.”
This story was originally published August 31, 2019 at 10:02 PM.
