Penn State offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich highlights ‘poised’ Sean Clifford’s areas of improvement

UNIVERSITY PARK — Mike Yurcich knows Sean Clifford’s improvement has been a hot topic concerning Penn State through the first five weeks of the season.

The redshirt senior has rebounded from a down 2020 season to become one of the Big Ten’s more efficient and accurate passers.

Plenty of credit has gone to Yurcich, the first-year offensive coordinator. And plenty has gone to Clifford, a third-year starter playing under yet another offensive play-caller.

Yurcich, though, pulled back into a larger view when it comes to Clifford’s performance this season Thursday. Quarterbacks tend to get a disproportionate amount of credit when things are going well and a disproportionate amount of blame when things are going wrong. So Yurcich tried to put Clifford’s bounce-back year into context.

“It’s about protection, right?” Yurcich said over Zoom. “It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s Sean, it’s Sean, it’s Sean. How Sean improved, Sean improved, Sean improved.’ Dude, it’s a team game. So the protection is better, and that’s going to help Sean, right? Protection’s poor, quarterback’s going to look poor. I don’t know what to tell you. That’s been the case.

“Would Tom Brady be Tom Brady if the Browns drafted him back in 1974 or whenever he came out? No, he wouldn’t. So it’s all relative.”

Clifford has been sacked eight times during No. 4 Penn State’s 5-0 start this season. That’s fewer than two times per game. During last year’s 4-5 campaign, Clifford and former Penn State quarterback Will Levis were sacked 28 times, more than three times per game.

The Penn State offensive line, which features bookend tackles Rasheed Walker and Caedan Wallace, has held up for the most of the year to give Clifford time, and then Clifford, for the most part, has made smart decisions on when to remain in the pocket and when to scramble to escape pressure.

“I think he’s improved, but I think it’s so relative to what we’re doing up front and how we’re pass protecting better,” Yurcich said. “I’m not going to sit here and take credit for it. The offensive line deserves a lot of credit, the receivers deserve a lot of credit. Tight ends and running backs, they’ve done a great job. We need to continue to build on that.

“I think Sean has made up his mind to be a tough SOB and to stand in there and keep his eyes downfield on a consistent basis. That needs to continue to grow.”

Still, Clifford deserves some credit for his growth under Yurcich. Clifford is completing a career-high 67.3% of his passes, and his 8.7 yards per attempt are a career high. Clifford has passed for 1,336 yards and 11 touchdowns to only three interceptions so far this season.

Clifford’s turned in some impressive performances, too, from completing 87.5% of his passes against Auburn to throwing for a career-high 401 yards and four touchdowns against Villanova. There’s been plenty of growth to his game since halftime at Wisconsin in the season opener.

“Football’s an ever-changing game, and it’s something that you can’t get complacent with,” Clifford said Wednesday. “You can’t think that you’ve arrived at any time, so you have to be working on your craft daily, and I think that with a coach like Coach Yurcich, he doesn’t really allow you to be complacent in the first place. So it makes it pretty easy for me to hold myself and my teammates accountable.”

Yurcich highlighted Clifford’s “ability to absorb the information” along with his preparation as something that has stood out to the offensive coordinator. Those are things that a coach can’t know until he actually works with a player, Yurcich said, and he has seen Clifford be consistent in that area.

Yurcich also praised Clifford’s ability to not get rattled. There are times that things could have gone off the rails this season, but they haven’t. And with a trip to face No. 3 Iowa at Kinnick Stadium on deck for Saturday, the Nittany Lions will need Clifford to continue to be a calming, steady presence.

“His mentality has been very even-keel and poised,” Yurcich said. “He’s a fiery person by nature, but he’s able to stay calm and adjust, and with as much experience as Sean has, I think the biggest attribute that he has is the poise that he has. He can regroup if things aren’t going great and get back into rhythm, and so that’s something that I think is unique about him and is a really good quality that any quarterback should have.”

Penn State entered the season with questions dotting its roster. The defense has answered most of the ones directed in its direction. The offense has answered plenty, too, even though a couple — the running game — remain near the halfway mark of the season.

The player who has answered the most questions about his game, though, is Clifford. The Nittany Lions likely will go as far as Clifford can help take them. And so far, he has shown he can perform well in tough situations, and he’ll have another chance to do that Saturday.

Clifford has made things happen with his arm and his legs this season, and his partnership with Yurcich has let that skill set only grow this season. The next opportunity for growth comes in Iowa City in two days.

“He’s got to have that creativity. … You don’t want to handcuff the kid,” Yurcich said. “So how you manage that and how you coach that, to me, is the secret sauce, really. And that’s the fun of it all and getting to know one another and good conversations, man. It’s kind of like, with a guy like Sean, you have football conversations. It’s not all one-way communication. You want to learn from him, ‘What did you see? How did you feel of it? OK, next time, think about this, keep this in your mind.’ And you’re just trying to help him out as much as you can. At the end of the day, my man’s got to make some plays.”