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Penn State football: Sean Clifford looking forward to continuity at OC as he returns for 2022

IMG_1698 5 (1)by:David Eckert•12/22/21•

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Penn State QB Sean Clifford touted stability at offensive coordinator as a primary reason for returning for 2022.(Steve Manuel/BWI)

Even as he wraps up his third season as Penn State football’s starting quarterback and looks toward a fourth, Sean Clifford is experiencing new concepts.

That, in this case, involves consistency at the offensive coordinator position.

Clifford’s list of play-callers since he arrived in Happy Valley is extensive. He spent his redshirt season under Joe Moorhead. Rickey Rahne succeeded him, and lasted two seasons as Penn State’s coordinator — one Clifford spent in a reserve role, the next as the starter.

When Rahne departed to become the head coach at Old Dominion, Kirk Ciarrocca came in from Minnesota. His tenure lasted just one season, before he was replaced by Mike Yurcich ahead of this year.

Clifford’s next campaign will be his last with the Nittany Lions, and the first time as a starter he won’t spend the offseason installing a new offense.

That, for Clifford, is key.

“That was definitely one of the most appealing factors that played into it,” Clifford said. “It was having an offensive coordinator for two years, back-to-back. I have yet to have that as a starter. To be honest with you, it has been difficult at times just because you can’t really go back to look at the tape and say, ‘Alright, we’re going to grow on this play, this play, this play,’ because there’s new plays coming in the door.”

Clifford has indicated in the past that he has learned from each of the offensive coordinators he’s played under. In some ways, the diversity of ideas he has encountered from his coaches is helpful.

By the numbers, though, his best season came last year under Yurcich.

Clifford posted a career-best 62.4 completion percentage, 2,912 passing yards, and a career-low six interceptions. Penn State’s offense was far from perfect — something that can largely be attributed to its failure to run the ball. Clifford, however, was much improved.

“I think with Coach Yurcich, he’s taught me a lot about progressions, staying in the pocket, eyes downfield, and just being a field general,” Clifford said.

There is room to grow, Clifford said. And a second year with Yurcich gives him the time and the opportunity to do so.

He said he feels as though the foundation of Penn State’s offense has been established, giving the Nittany Lions freedom to build upward rather than tearing the base down and starting anew, as he’d become so accustomed to.

For Yurcich, the feeling is mutual.

He said he didn’t pressure Clifford to return, but certainly wanted him back for another go at things in 2022.

“I think he’s a great young man, and I really enjoyed coaching him,” Yurcich said. “But a lot of things he had to figure out on his own. I wasn’t gonna recruit him or sell him on coming back. He had to want to come back for this next season.”

Thanks in no small part to Yurcich’s presence on the sideline, Clifford did.

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