James Franklin wanted to provide some perspective regarding rising redshirt sophomore quarterback Sean Clifford.

Coming off a three-year era of Trace McSorley starting at quarterback for the Nittany Lions, 40 games in all, there will certainly be a transition at the position moving forward this season. With McSorley proving himself to be an elite athlete throughout his Penn State career, though, his successor won’t necessarily experience a drop-off in that department.

“The other thing that I'm really proud of him is how he's worked. He got here and he was a 4.8 and has worked himself to a 4.5,” said Franklin. “So probably the one thing that people question with him is his athletic ability and ability to run. He's worked himself into that type of guy.”

This past weekend’s Lift for Life proved to be another demonstration of that fact.

Meeting with reporters after the annual weightlifting and strength and conditioning event, Penn State director of performance enhancement Dwight Galt discussed the progress that Clifford has made through his three years on campus. Now checking in at 6-foot-2, 216 pounds, both the weightlifting and speed numbers have manifested themselves in accordance with his own growth.

“With the upper body, I'm about done with Sean,” said Galt. “He benches 350. He just got 16 on 225 as a sophomore quarterback, so he's got a really good upper body foundation.

“Speed-wise, he's a really good athlete. He's a very, very good athlete, and he's bigger. He's about 215 right now. He's a bigger guy, Trace was about 198, something like that, so he's a bigger, stronger kid. And it took me a little bit to kind of match up his ability to really exert horizontal force into the ground at his size, but he just works so hard.”

For offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne, those realities could prove to be important as he works to best utilize Penn State’s offensive pieces next season.

Asked how critical the fractions of a second in 40-yard times could be at the quarterback position for what he’d like to see out of Penn State’s offense this season, Rahne revealed what he finds to be more important when it comes to speed out of his signal-callers.

“They mean everything and they mean nothing at the same time. Obviously, you'd love for a guy to score when he does get in the open field, to take a big play and take it to the house,” said Rahne. “One of the things that are probably more important though for us is their foot quickness and their ability to change direction. That's more important to us at the quarterback position than necessarily the 40. The 40 is a bonus and you'd love to have it.

“But the foot quickness is the more important one. There's no doubt about it. Because you have to be able to change direction. That helps not only in pocket movement, but it helps in the run game and all that sort of stuff.”

And Clifford has that?

“Absolutely, he does,” said Rahne. “He's very good on that. Very good on change of direction, absolutely.”

If Galt’s comments this weekend are any indication of what’s to come, presuming the more experienced Clifford to earn the starting position in preseason camp, the plans at the position aren’t likely to deviate much from McSorley’s tenure.

Finishing with more than 144 carries in each of the past three seasons, capped by 170 attempts for 798 rushing yards and 12 scores as a senior, the quarterback position will continue to play into Penn State’s plans in the running game.

“These guys have running back tendencies, so we've gotta make sure that not only are we keeping a really good amount of flexibility and stability in his shoulder for the throwing mechanics, but we also gotta make sure that they can take hits because we need Sean to take off a little bit this year,” said Galt. “He's really worked hard on that. He's embraced that and done a really nice job of getting not only his core section but his upper body in a really, really good situation.

When the Nittany Lions return to the practice field in earnest, the team’s veterans taking online classes given this week to spend on their own before returning for a week-and-a-half of pre-camp preparation, Clifford is determined to bring those attributes to the field.

Emboldened by the support he’s received from teammates and coaches throughout the offseason, it’s a moment that he’s been looking forward to.

“I’ve never been more excited to play football in my life,” said Clifford. “I have a great team behind me. I have a great fan base here at Penn State. The coaching staff, I feel like they have my back and I’ve got theirs, so overall I’m just excited to be here and be in the position I am.”