Sean Clifford pictured practicing, update on status

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was pictured throwing at practice on Wednesday, a positive development as the starter has been dealing with an undisclosed injury that he suffered against Iowa on Oct. 9.

We'll hear from James Franklin in about an hour. Until then, some photos… pic.twitter.com/c7h9CQUfnr

— Audrey Snyder (@audsnyder4) October 20, 2021

Franklin stated that Wednesday wasn’t the first time this week Sean Clifford has thrown at practice this week. Clifford’s status for Saturday’s homecoming game against Illinois remains unknown.

Though his status remains unknown Clifford is splitting reps at quarterback with Ta’Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux in practice.

“Yeah, not sure at this stage, all three of them took reps — a third, a third, a third,” Franklin said. “We’ll see. I don’t know at this stage. But we’ll see where he’s at by Saturday. Hopefully, obviously, we’ll have an idea before that. But it was good to see him be able to get some reps today at practice, all three of them.”

On Tuesday, Franklin said if Clifford can’t go, there is a competition between Roberson and Veilleux as to who will start against Illinois

“We are going to split the reps between Ta’Quan and Veilleux,” Franklin said on Tuesday. “We’ll split the reps. I think someone asked me that question the other day about, ‘Will it be a competition?’ I think it’s always a competition, but it’s probably magnified a little bit. We’re looking at those guys very closely in practice and the scrimmage periods and things like that, so we will split those reps between those two evenly and make it a competition.”

Roberson, a redshirt sophomore, stepped in for Clifford against Iowa when Clifford became injured. It was Roberson’s first serious action at quarterback for the Nittany Lions and he struggled against Iowa’s defense. Roberson finished the game completing 7 of 21 passes for only 34 yards and two interceptions.

“I think right now, we’re even [splitting reps] just based on where we’re at with those two guys,” Franklin said. “But I think whenever you can obviously decide who your starter is and then be able to slant a few more reps to your starters compared to your backups — and that’s not just the quarterback, that’s at every position. That chemistry, that cohesion of the group is really important, so that’s what you’d like to do. But right now, I think our plan is to split it pretty evenly.”

So far this season, Sean Clifford has thrown for over 1,300 passing yards, while tossing in 11 touchdown passes and five interceptions. Coming out of high school, he was rated as a four-star prospect out of St. Xavier.