Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford's football journey will be continuing. On Saturday afternoon, the Nittany Lions' all-time passing leader was selected with the 149th overall pick by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 2023 NFL Draft.
Clifford leaves Happy Valley at the top of every passing leaderboard for the program including completions, passing yards, and passing touchdowns.
Clifford was a four-star prospect in the 2017 recruiting class, committing to Penn State over offers from Boston College, Cincinnati, Louisville, Michigan State, North Carolina, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, and Missouri among others. The Cincinnati (OH) native committed to the Nittany Lions very early in his recruiting process, making his decision prior to his junior season at St. Xavier.
The former St. Xavier standout spent six seasons in Happy Valley including starting in each of Penn State's games the last four seasons.
After redshirting his true freshman season in 2017, Clifford was the Nittany Lions' backup to Trace McSorley in 2018 playing in four games, and making his career debut against the Pittsburgh Panthers.
Following McSorley's departure, Clifford became the full-time starter in 2019, completing 59.2% of his passes for 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions while leading the program to a Cotton Bowl victory over Memphis. The 2020 season would have its' ups-and-downs for Clifford much like it did for the program as a whole but he would still put together a quality season, completing over 60% of his passes for 1,883 yards and 16 touchdowns in the COVID-shortened season. After the Nittany Lions lost their first five games of the season, Clifford led the program to four straight victories to end the season.
In 2021, Clifford saw another step up in his game under offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich, once again seeing his completion percentage increase while topping 3,000 yards for the first and only time in his career while throwing for 21 touchdowns to just eight interceptions.
This past fall, however, was Clifford's best season, completing a career-high 64.4% of his passes for 2,822 yards, and 24 touchdowns. He threw just seven interceptions on the season and led the Nittany Lions to a Rose Bowl victory over Memphis.
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