Breaking down Penn State football’s quarterback situation four games into the season
James Franklin mulled the progress Sean Clifford has made in his sixth year at Penn State Tuesday afternoon. The Nittany Lions head coach made two points about his fourth year starting quarterback’s growth that intertwined.
“I think he’s much more even keeled that I’ve seen in terms of his demeanor,” Franklin said. “... He’s not getting too high when things are good, he’s not getting too low when we’d prefer to have a play back. That I see as much as anything.
“Then I think what you’re trying to do at all positions but obviously at the quarterback position, is you’re trying to maybe — trying to reduce or eliminate those three to six plays a game that you’d like to get rid of, and I think he’s done a really good job of that — you look at his numbers right now, he’s responsible for 12 total touchdowns and one turnover, 64 percent completion percentage, and I think that could even be better, almost 1,000 yards, 39 points, and most importantly, 1-0 each week. ... I would also make the argument that maybe those two things go hand in hand, that when he maybe has a play that he’d like to get back, he’s able to get over it quicker because he’s been more even keeled.”
Clifford has taken some strides in that regard but is also very much the quarterback he has been in the past. That matters more this year than it ever has before. Previously, Clifford was locked in as the starter. The previous backups either couldn’t stack up or hadn’t been able to come close to him in competitions for one reason or another.
Now, former five-star recruit Drew Allar is waiting in the wings and is already showing he has the talent to be everything he was heralded as when he was in high school. He’s wowed with some of the throws he’s made in limited action but remains the backup to Clifford.
Let’s take a look at how the two quarterbacks compare through four games this season.
Sean Clifford
Stats: 75/117, 64.1 completion percentage, 890 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception
Analysis: Clifford has been up and down this season. He struggled mightily against Purdue before turning it around and leading the game winning drive. He didn’t have many issues against Ohio but still struggled to make accurate passes and too often put the ball in harm’s way. He was really good against Auburn, but wasn’t asked to do all that much — that doesn’t change that it was arguably a career best performance. And against Central Michigan he was the same volatile quarterback he was previously, starting off hot before struggling and then ultimately getting hot to end the game.
Clifford’s issues remain largely the same. He struggles with accuracy and decision making at times. The former is largely caused by his propensity to throw off balance in the pocket, whether that’s on his back foot or by fading away from his arm side as he releases the ball. Mix that in with less than perfect decision making and suddenly you have a quarterback that can be erratic. That being said, when he’s on platform and throwing on balance, Clifford is a good quarterback that gives his best weapons a chance. However, that isn’t always the case and needs to be for the team to reach its highest potential.
Drew Allar
Stats: 12/19, 63.2 completion percentage, 163 yards, two touchdowns, zero interceptions
Analysis: The difficulty with evaluating Allar is the clearly limited sample. He could have issues that are being missed because he’s only thrown 19 passes in game action. That being said, he’s been excellent in that small window. It’s Allar that has made the most difficult throws this season, including an absolute dart that fell incomplete against Purdue where he split two defenders and hit Tyler Warren in the hands. Of course, he made that throw despite having Mitchell Tinsley running open down the field. It’s a very good sign when a young quarterback can still have a positive play despite making a mistake.
While he’s younger, he also looks more comfortable navigating the pocket than Clifford, climbing it with ease to avoid collisions with oncoming defensive linemen. That being said, it’s all a small sample. Allar hasn’t had the opportunities to make many mistakes and some of his throws and decisions are still far from perfect. That, and it remains to be seen how well he can command an offense when he’s in full control of it for 60 minutes. It’s one thing to handle things when he comes in for a drive in a tight game against Purdue, but it’s another to do it over the course of three hours. The problem is, it’s impossible to know how he’d do until he actually takes the field for a full game.
Verdict
There’s an argument to be made either way here. If you prefer Clifford you likely prefer having a player you know can command the offense and add a dimension of rushing ability. You’re also fine with inconsistency with the knowledge that there will be fairly good moments to go with fairly bad ones. His resiliency this season has allowed him to at least recover when things don’t go in his favor at any moment.
If you prefer Allar you’re fine with the mystery. You’re likely tantalized by the upside with the knowledge that throwing him into the fire too early could mean an extra loss or two this season if he doesn’t handle it well. You like the arm talent and the ability to find positives even without the ideal outcome and are fine with not running with your quarterback. Of course, you also like the idea of a much higher ceiling and a team with a much wider range of possibilities.
I tend to favor the latter, with the upside taking priority. That being said, it’s perfectly reasonable to deem Clifford is the best option right now — especially because there may be locker room dynamics at play that it’s impossible to understand without being inside the Lasch Building. That may be a cop out, but it certainly feels like there is no wrong answer right now and that’s a good thing given where Penn State’s quarterback situation has been in the past. That being said, Clifford must have more games like the one he did in Auburn for the team to have the success it aspires to have.
