UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Sean Clifford has a hell of a lot going for himself. He's bright, outgoing, a leader, respected and motivated. He's the kind of college student you look at and say, "He's going to be a success in life no matter what he chooses to do."
In short, Clifford is more than just No. 14.
Far, far more.
The thing is, as a fan of one of the greatest college football programs in the country, you probably don't care a whole lot about Sean Clifford's life. His goals. His future aspirations.
You just want him to be a better quarterback. A much, much better quarterback than he's shown the past two seasons.
And that's absolutely fair.
This is big-time college football. It's cut throat. We have to judge dudes based on how they play. Period.
It's easy to harshly judge Clifford, and many Penn State fans have been doing exactly that all offseason. He is -- and this really isn't even up for debate -- the most heavily criticized Penn State player ever. Now, that may seem to be just recency bias, but unlike heavily critiqued players of the past, Clifford plays in the modern age of social media, where it's far easier for anyone and everyone to blast him.
Admittedly, I have been as tough on Clifford as any media member, because, as mentioned before, this is big-time football and the only thing that matters is results. Clifford is not a bad quarterback, and he certainly needs help in the running game, but any statistically based metric you use will show that he has basically been an average college quarterback his entire career.
Despite that, the 24-year-old man is still Penn State's starter -- for a fourth straight year -- while entering his sixth season of college ball.
Given all of that, it's easy to think of Clifford as merely No. 14. To only view him as a football player, and because he's been around so long, to wonder why on earth he isn't a better football player.
Again, all of that is absolutely fair.
Still, there is more to this guy than just what we see on the field. Much, much more.
I tried to explore some of that stuff during a good back-and-forth with Clifford at media day earlier this month. He was talking about building relationships with teammates when he said this:
"We're not just football players. We're people, too. We like to, obviously, have that relationship and then it translates when we come out in the field, the trust factor."
The "we're not just football players" part caught my attention, and so I asked Clifford about it a couple minutes later.
"Do you think people forget that sometimes, that you're not just No. 14, you're not just NIL, you're a person?"
"I mean, it's not just at Penn State. It's everywhere," Clifford replied. "You get so passionate about what's happening on the field that emotions come out, and sometimes people forget that there's a heart and soul behind the people in the uniform.
"It's my challenge every year to college football fans to remember that. I appreciate the passion -- always. It's what drives college sports, and it's what makes it so exciting. But at the same time, I have dreams and aspirations even past football, eventually, whenever that may be. So it's something that I don't really think about much, but yeah, we're people, too. That's the main thing."
Another reporter followed with this question for Clifford:
"Do you feel some of that negativity at all? Penn State's got a huge fan base -- biggest one in college football -- do you feel like when you guys are hot, everyone's great, when you're not, does that come out a little bit?"
Clifford gave the standard athlete response of "I don't really listen to it." Maybe he's being honest, but you know, I always wonder when people say that if they truly are telling the truth.
Who among us doesn't care at all what others think of us? That must be some kind of super power. Because in reality, everybody wants to be liked deep down inside, and it can take a toll on you when you're constantly getting ripped by people.
Maybe Clifford truly doesn't pay any attention to it. But that seems doubtful.
"Realistically, I don't really listen to it, but it's more so I know what goes on," Clifford said. "I'm not blind. But at the same time, like, in the end, I don't really care about the outside noise because, realistically, the outside noise is not on the field doing what we do. So they can't help or hurt us on the field.
"And it's one of those things where myself, my teammates, our coaching staff and administration, we're the ones that are making the plays. We're the men in the arena, that's the best way to put it."
Clifford is no longer just a man in the arena. He has taken steps to become a big factor outside the arena, starting up an NIL company, Limitless NIL, and also taking steps to help organize a meeting between Penn State football players and the head of the College Football Players Association to discuss the union possibility.
Clifford is not, at this stage entering the season, considered much of an NFL prospect. But given what he's already dabbling in while in college, he very much could become a player on the business side of college athletics, or another company.
"I've found this, creating the company and and doing all these things outside of football, has made it so much more freeing when it comes to on the field because I found my other passion in life realistically," Clifford said.
"When I wake up in the morning, I'm not just excited about just football. When just football is the only excitement, sometimes when it's going wrong, you just get consumed and you get in your own head. But when you have numerous things going on, football, it's still priority one, but I still have so much more to look forward to. It's one of those things where I'll look forward to a practice, but at the same time, in the morning, I'm meeting with a CEO of Fortune 500 company, and I'm like, 'Wow, that's so exciting to be able to do.'
"So, it's just definitely given me more perspective in life and just made it very, very interesting."
Legendary Pittsburgh Steelers coach Chuck Noll used to talk about how players at the end of their playing careers needed "to get on with their life's work."
What will be Clifford's life work?
Thew view here is that I could see him returning to Penn State as an assistant coach and perhaps someday becoming the Lions' offensive coordinator. That has always seemed like a reasonable path for him, given his lengthy history with the program and James Franklin.
When Clifford finished talking about how the business stuff is so exciting, I asked him: "What's more likely, Sean Clifford the business man when your career is done, or Sean Clifford the offensive coordinator at Penn State?"
He let out a big laugh.
I added: "I always thought it would be the offensive coordinator at Penn State. But you almost sound like an Adam Breneman kind of entrepreneurial business man guy."
"Adam's a great dude," Clifford replied. "But who knows?
"The only thing that like realistically -- and I'm not even blowing smoke -- I'm just trying to take in everything that's going on right now. ... These days are some of the best days of my life, getting to play with this team, my brother (Liam) is on the same team, being a part of the same offense and coming out and having one more go around and the opportunity. You look at COVID, it was so crazy, and now having one more go in the blue and white for a school that I just love so much, it's really hard to look past that because it's just so fun and exciting just to have one more time.
"So, I'll let (the future) kind of suit itself out in 2023 and beyond. But right now, I'm just really blessed and thankful to be in the position that I am."
