Heavily criticized now, will Clifford be more appreciated by fans over time?

ALTOONA, Pa. -- Fast forward 10 years. You're talking with your Penn State buddies, and the subject of Sean Clifford comes up.

Clifford, the most heavily criticized Penn State football player ever.

Clifford, only the seventh quarterback in Big Ten history with 10,000 yards passing.

How will Nittany Lion fans view Clifford in the future? More favorably? About the same? Less favorably, if that's even possible, given the amount of vitriol that many fans have aimed his way?

Clifford surely knows how he's viewed by many in the fan base. Even if he was able to ignore all the social media and message board comments, there was no way he could ignore getting booed by fans in his own stadium prior to the Minnesota game last month.

Saturday, during a 30-0 win over Maryland, Clifford broke Trace McSorley's Penn State career passing record and became the seventh Big Ten passer to reach 10,000 yards. That's a big number for a career, but his number comes with a giant asterisk because Clifford got the COVID year back and therefore has been a very rare four-year starter.

Clifford sounded very self-aware after the game when it comes to his whole situation at Penn State.

"It's going to be sad to leave," Clifford said. "I think myself and the Penn State community are definitely ready to see someone new. I'm with them. I'm with them."

He also said this:

"I've laid my guts on the line for this place. I love everything about Penn State."

Even if Penn State fans have never, ever loved everything about him.

I asked James Franklin on Tuesday if, over time, the Penn State fan base may warm up to Clifford and appreciate him more.

"Yeah, I think you have to be careful with that, right?" the coach said. "I think we all have to, because I think more times than not ... if I had to guess, it's the vocal minority."

That part is very debatable.

Still, Franklin continued:

"I get a lot of emails from a lot of people that are super positive and super appreciative of Sean and what he's done throughout his career here. Typically, the positive ones aren't as vocal as the people criticizing. At least that's what I hope. That's what I want to believe.

"Yeah, you would love for that -- I would love for that kid, not to get ahead of ourselves -- but in our last game, senior day, I hope he gets the type of appreciation and recognition that he deserves. So we'll see. Again, I don't spend a whole lot of time on it. I think over time, Sean hasn't anymore either."

THE CASE FOR CLIFFORD

When we're talking about legacy, this quarterback isn't finished writing his. The Lions could still go 10-2 and perhaps even get to the Rose Bowl. What if they win the Rose Bowl, against, say, a USC or Oregon? Or what if the Lions get to an Orange Bowl and beat, say, Clemson?

If he goes 11-2 his final season and wins the second New Year's Six game of his career -- he also led the Lions to a Cotton Bowl victory in 2019 over Memphis -- could it be enough for fans to cut the guy some slack and remember him in a more positive light?

There's also this: Penn State was 5-0 last year, ranked No. 4 and led at Iowa before Clifford got hurt. If he hadn't gotten hurt, the Lions would have won that day, they probably would have beaten Illinois instead of losing in nine overtimes, and at worst they would have finished the season 9-4 instead of 7-6.

Might the passage of time allow for some leeway with regards to how 2021 played out given the unfortunate timing of his injury?

THE CASE AGAINST CLIFFORD

This one's easy. For everybody.

Clifford has never passed the eye test. Sure, he's had an occasional good game, but then also a whole bunch of games where he missed wide-open throws and just looked like exactly what all the stats say he is -- an average quarterback.

He doesn't throw the deep ball well, which is paramount in Penn State's offense. He often will completely fail to recognize a guy running wide open down the field and instead throw to another guy on a shorter route, often incomplete. It's those plays that everyone can see play out that make fans simply shake their head and complain the most.

He's turned the ball over far too much at times, and in bad situations.

He's also lost. A lot. He was the starting quarterback during the 11-11 seasons of 2020-21, so it was easy to sour on him, even if he was injured late in 2021. He's also gone 0-4 against Ohio State, including turning the ball over four times a few weeks ago as the Lions blew a 21-16 lead and lost, 44-31.

"I don't regret anything that has happened," Clifford said of his career. "Do I regret a throw? Yeah, for sure. A bunch of throws. At the same time, when it comes to how I've approached the game, how I've approached every single day in the locker room, I know I've given this program everything I've got."

Will that be enough to win him more support over time?

It's doubtful, in all honesty.

Clifford will never be considered a great Penn State quarterback, no matter how many records he ends up setting. He will never be beloved like McSorley, who won a Big Ten title and was the ultimate gamer. His career numbers will always be viewed with a heavy degree of skepticism because he simply stuck around so long -- too long in the minds of many fans.

Time has a way of making us view people in a more favorable light. Will that happen with Sean Clifford?

We'll check back on this in, say, 10 years.