Sean Burke Clifford (born July 14, 1998) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

. He was the starting quarterback and team captain for the Nittany Lions from 2019 through 2022.

High school career

Clifford graduated from St. Xavier High School in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

in 2017. During his career, he passed for 4,004 yards and 30

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

with a school record 1,100 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns as a quarterback. He committed to

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

to play college football.

College career

After redshirting his first year at Penn State in 2017, Clifford spent 2018 as

Trace McSorley Richard Thomas "Trace" McSorley III (born August 23, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Penn State, and was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens ...

's backup. He appeared in four games, completing five of seven passes for 195 yards with two touchdowns. Clifford was named the starting quarterback in 2019. He was selected All-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches and media, and named an Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Clifford played in all nine games of a shortened season during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was 152-for-251 (60.6%) for 1,883 yards with 16 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Clifford again was named an Academic All-Big Ten honoree and earned a bachelor's degree in advertising and public relations following the 2020 fall semester. Clifford started all 13 games of the 2021 season and finished 261-for-429 passing with 3,107 yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He was honored in the 2021 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class, selected to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, earned a spot on the Senior CLASS Award first team, named All-Big Ten honorable mention by the coaches and media, named Penn State's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honoree, earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, and earned the team's Public Service and Lion's Pride Outstanding Senior Player Awards. Clifford started all 13 games of the 2022 season and finished 226-for-351 passing with 2,822 yards, 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. During the

2023 Rose Bowl The 2023 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2023, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The 109th annual Rose Bowl, the game featured Penn State from the Big Ten Conference and Utah from the Pac-12 Conference ...

, Sean Clifford's 88-yard touchdown pass to KeAndre Lambert-Smith became the longest passing play in

Rose Bowl game The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

history. He was named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week twice (Purdue September 1, 2022; Minnesota October 22, 2022). He was also honored as the 2022 Brian Westbrook Regional Player of the Year.

Statistics

Professional career

Clifford was drafted by the

in the fifth round with the 149th pick of the

2023 NFL Draft The 2023 NFL Draft will be the 88th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft is scheduled to be held in the plaza outside of Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on April 27–29, ...

. He signed his rookie contract on May 5.

Business Ventures

Limitless NIL

Limitless NIL is a student-athlete NIL agency founded in 2022 by Sean and Liam Clifford. Limitless athletes have now signed deals accumulating over $250,000 with over 50 companies. Limitless NIL was sold to TEAM Group Holdings inc. in 2023.

References

External links

Green Bay Packers bioPenn State Nittany Lions bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clifford, Sean 1998 births Living people Players of American football from Cincinnati American football quarterbacks Penn State Nittany Lions football players St. Xavier High School (Ohio) alumni Green Bay Packers players People from Barrington, Illinois