ALTOONA, Pa. -- To say that Pro Football Focus has never been a fan of Sean Clifford would be an understatement, and the outlet proved that again Monday.
Prior to last season, Pro Football Focus gave Clifford an embarrassingly low ranking among quarterbacks heading into the campaign, slotting him all the way down at No. 88.
Fast forward a year, and Pro Football Focus debuted its 2022 QB rankings here, ranking the top 50 signal callers entering the season.
Where is Clifford on the list?
Nowhere to be found.
Meaning, despite being a sixth-year college quarterback and a four-year starter who will turn 24 on Thursday, Clifford is not considered to be one of the 50 best quarterbacks in the country.
At least according to this particular outlet.
Meanwhile, Pitt's Kedon Slovis, a transfer from USC, got a lot of love from Pro Football Focus, coming in at No. 9 on the preseason QB rankings.
Here's a look at the top 10:
1. Bryce Young, Alabama
2. Caleb Williams, USC
3. Spencer Rattler, South Carolin
4. CJ Stroud, Ohio State
5. Sam Hartman, Wake Forest
6. Grayson McCall, Coastal Carolina
7. Brennan Armstrong, Virginia
8. Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma
9. Kedon Slovis, Pitt
10. Tyler Dan Dyke, Miami
For the record, Pro Football Focus has to be taken with a grain of salt simply because its valuations and projections can be all over the place. Their analysis is said to be extremely thorough, but without knowing exactly how they rate players and how much subjectivity is involved, it's often necessary to question the rankings.
For instance, entering last season, Oklahoma's Spencer Rattler was rated the No. 1 QB in the country, and he lost his starting job to Caleb Williams after playing poorly early in the season. Indiana's Michael Penix Jr. was ranked No. 5, and Clemson's D.J. Uiagalelei was No. 8.
Pitt's Kenny Pickett was all the way down at No. 52 on the preseason list a year ago. He wound up third in the Heisman race and became a first-round draft pick.
So ... yeah. Those rankings last year were a mess.
Pro Football Focus has a disclaimer on this year's rankings that reads "Note: This has nothing to do with pro potential.
Is Clifford really not one of the 50 best quarterbacks in the country? Can that possibly be the case? He did help the Nittany Lions achieve a No. 4 ranking last year and was playing great at Iowa before getting injured. He and the team were never the same after that.
Still, for as inconsistent as Clifford can be, he had no running game last year at Penn State, so it's tough to judge his performance based solely on him alone. The argument has always been, give Clifford a running game, like he had in 2019, and he is good enough to lead the team to a lot of wins.
But ask him to go out and win games by himself, and Clifford clearly is not that quarterback.
Clifford threw for 21 TDs and eight interceptions last year, with 3,107 yards passing and a 61.0 completion percentage.
As for Slovis, he threw for 11 TDs with eight interceptions last season at USC, to go along with 2,153 passing yards and a 65.0 completion percentage. He is very skilled, which has Pitt fans excited, but still has a lot to prove for someone who is rated the No. 9 QB in the country.
Is Clifford rated too low?
Is Slovis rated too high?
A case can be made for both of those. Post your thoughts in the comments section.
Some other notables about the top 50:
* Former Penn State QB Will Levis, now at Kentucky, is ranked No. 19. Levis is considered a potential first-round NFL draft pick, so his ranking seems low.
* Penn State will open at Purdue. Boilermakers QB Aidan O'Connell is No. 15 on the list.
* Pitt opens against West Virginia. Mountaineers QB JT Daniels is No. 40.
