#14

Sean Clifford

Former quarterback at Penn State. 2022: 2,822 passing yards, 24 TD, 7 INT.

QB · Penn State · Sr. · #14

6′2″ · 212 lb · Cincinnati, OH

CFB Index 63 · #35 of 140 QBsHigh confidenceWatch-list name (model)Green Bay — drafted 2023, Rd 5, Pick 15, #149 overall

The story

Former quarterback at Penn State. 2022: 2,822 passing yards, 24 TD, 7 INT.

Drafted round 5 by the Green Bay in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Penn State, 10,679 passing yards — drafted at #149 overall by Green Bay.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

2023

Drafted by Green Bayround 5, pick 149

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Penn State

2018–2022

NFL

NFL Draft

R5 · #149

Green Bay · 2023

Coaching lineage · 2018–2022

1 coach

2018–2022

James Franklin

Penn State

Played his entire career under James Franklin.

Where He Ended Up · NFL

Green BayEntering 4th NFL season

#149Rd 5 · Pick 15

Green BayEntering 4th NFL season

View college career stats ↓

2022 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

5 seasons under James Franklin — 42-19 over that span.

2018Penn State9-4HC: James Franklin · Run-leaning

2019Penn State11-2HC: James Franklin · Run-leaning

2020Penn State4-5HC: James Franklin · Run-leaning, fast tempo

2021Penn State7-6HC: James Franklin · Balanced

2022Penn State11-2HC: James Franklin · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

63Quality starter #35 of 140?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: pass tds (82nd percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

EPA / dropback#39 / 169 · 77th pct

0.35

Explosive rate#39 / 169 · 77th pct

12.4%

Success rate#46 / 169 · 73rd pct

49.6%

Sack rate#51 / 169 · 70th pct

4.4%

Interception rate#74 / 169 · 57th pct

2.1%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#30 / 177 · 82nd pct

Pass yards#45 / 177 · 75th pct

2822

Rush TDs#43 / 177 · 73rd pct

Completion %#50 / 177 · 72nd pct

64.4%

Yards / att#50 / 177 · 71st pct

8.0

Fumbles lost#27 / 169 · 68th pct

Rush yards#64 / 177 · 64th pct

185

Interceptions#97 / 177 · 41st pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

34th → 77th percentile

Success rate

24th → 73rd percentile

Explosive rate

36th → 77th percentile

Sack rate

39th → 70th percentile

Interception rate

69th → 57th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

224/346 (64.7%) · 24 TD · 7 INT

346 of 351 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

7.9041 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

4.4%58 of 206 QBs

Rarely sacked (58 of 206 QBs) and still 41 of 206 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

52%of completions

117 comp5.0 yds avg5 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

28%of completions

63 comp13.4 yds avg8 TD

Deep

20+ yds

20%of completions

44 comp31.5 yds avg10 TD

Overall 64.7% completion on 346 attempts · 44 deep completions averaging 31.5 yds.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2022 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home7g	225	2.4	7.6	0.7
Road6g	208	1.2	8.8	0.3

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	204	1.6	8.3	0.3
Weeks 8+6g	232	2.2	8.0	0.8

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Matt Campbell

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2022

Watch-list name (model)

Our Heisman model has him inside the top 25; he is not on a published award watch list yet.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

63 · #35 of 140 QBs

Career stats

Season	Team
2022	Penn State	226	351	64.4%	2,822	8.0	24	7	150.5	73	--	--
2021	Penn State	261	428	61.0%	3,107	7.3	21	8	134.4	31	--	--
2020	Penn State	151	250	60.4%	1,877	7.5	16	9	137.4	45	--	--
2019	Penn State	189	319	59.2%	2,654	8.3	23	7	148.5	--	--	--
2018	Penn State	5	7	71.4%	219	31.3	2	0	428.5	--	--	--
Career		832	1,355	61.4%	10,679	7.9	86	31	144.0	48	--	--

Season	Team
2022	Penn State	70	185	2.6	5	--
2021	Penn State	99	163	1.6	2	--
2020	Penn State	99	335	3.4	3	--
2019	Penn State	116	402	3.5	5	--
2018	Penn State	5	-3	-0.6	0	--
Career		389	1,082	2.8	15	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 18 · 2022

W 35–21

at Utah

279 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · -1 rush yds (8 car)

With B. Amor — 46 AVG · 2 IN 20 · 60 LONG · N. Singleton — 120 rush yds (7 car) · 2 TD

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 1 · Purdue · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA -9.99Sean Clifford pass intercepted for a TD Chris Jefferson return for 72 yds for a TD, (Mitchell Fineran KICK)
Week 9 · Ohio State · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA -7.56Sean Clifford pass intercepted for a TD J.T. Tuimoloau return for 14 yds for a TD, (Noah Ruggles KICK)
Week 1 · Utah · 3&4 · Q4 · EPA +7.11Sean Clifford pass complete to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for 88 yds for a TD (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Week 1 · Purdue · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +6.39Sean Clifford pass complete to Brenton Strange for 67 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Week 9 · Ohio State · 3&4 · Q2 · EPA +5.93Sean Clifford pass complete to Parker Washington for 58 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)
Week 7 · Michigan · 3&1 · Q2 · EPA +4.41Sean Clifford run for 62 yds to the Mich 4 for a 1ST down
Week 3 · Auburn · 2&24 · Q3 · EPA +3.99Sean Clifford pass complete to Parker Washington for 26 yds to the Aub 36 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · Utah · 3&8 · Q2 · EPA +3.85Sean Clifford pass complete to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for 32 yds to the Utah 36 for a 1ST down
Week 5 · Northwestern · 2&8 · Q3 · EPA +3.72Sean Clifford pass complete to Parker Washington for 43 yds to the Nwest 30 for a 1ST down
Week 8 · Minnesota · 2&8 · Q2 · EPA +3.64Sean Clifford pass complete to Tyler Warren for 38 yds for a TD, (Jake Pinegar KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2022 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 35-31@ Purdue	20/37	282	4	1	7.6	75.4	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 2	W 46-10vs Ohio	19/27	213	1	0	7.9	65.7
Wk 3	W 41-12@ Auburn	14/19	178	0	0	9.4	68.4
Wk 4	W 33-14vs Central Michigan	22/34	217	3	0	6.4	64.6	3 TD passes
Wk 5	W 17-7vs Northwestern	10/20	140	1	1	7.0	37.9
Wk 7	L 17-41@ Michigan	7/19	120	0	0	6.3	78.6
Wk 8	W 45-17vs Minnesota	23/31	295	4	1	9.5	92.8	4 TD passes
Wk 9	L 31-44vs Ohio State	32/47	371	3	3	7.9	63.9	Season-high 371 yds · 3 INTs — rough day
Wk 10	W 45-14@ Indiana	15/23	229	0	1	10.0	53.3
Wk 11	W 30-0vs Maryland	12/23	139	1	0	6.0	52.3
Wk 12	W 55-10@ Rutgers	17/26	157	1	0	6.0	76.7
Wk 13	W 35-16vs Michigan State	19/24	202	4	0	8.4	83.6	4 TD passes
Bowl	W 35-21@ Utah	16/21	279	2	0	13.3	—
Total		226/351	2822	24	7	8.1	67.8

How he plays

Play style

Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

62.5%Completion %

34.9%Conversion/dropback

40.0%Land short of sticks

1INTs

62.5% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 34.9% conversion-per-dropback — 40.0% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design