Penn State 'Season Preview' Part 2: The Kirk Ciarrocca/Sean Clifford Connection

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was poised to shine in coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca's new offense.

Sean Clifford and Kirk Ciarrocca met in Dallas, got to know each other better through Zoom meetings and had just begun practicing when the season abruptly was halted.

So where do Penn State's quarterback and offensive coordinator go from here? That's among the intriguing elements when Penn State plays football again.

Before heading there, though, AllPennState this week is exploring "What Might Have Been" for the Lions during a coronavirus-free 2020 season. In Part 1, we posed five reasons Penn State could have been a College Football Playoff contender this season.

In Part 2, let's visit why Clifford expected to thrive as a second-year quarterback in Ciarrocca's first-year offense.

First, they connected immediately. Clifford welcomed Ciarrocca at the Cotton Bowl eager to learn and, during their Zoom installations, Clifford noticed that Ciarrocca carried a passion similar to his. That was most obvious when Ciarrocca, who came to Penn State from Minnesota, frantically tried to squeeze his demonstrations onto a small laptop screen.

"He's definitely a very passionate person," Clifford said this spring. "He and I connect on that in a lot of ways. Every meeting is important to him. I see how hard he works each time he calls in to us, and whenever I talk to him on the phone, there's never a time where I'm not learning, not growing."

For Clifford, one area in which he wants to improve regards accuracy. As a first-year starter, Clifford completed 59 percent of his passes. But following his best game of the season against Maryland (398 yards, three touchdowns, 84 percent completion rate), Clifford topped 60 percent just once the remainder of the season.

Clifford also was limited by a late injury that forced him to sit the regular-season finale against Rutgers. With Ciarrocca, Clifford intended to better his accuracy rates by beginning with his feet.

"Coach Ciarrocca has pointed out a lot of things that I can keep getting better at," Clifford said. "One thing is definitely footwork. In this offense, we have a bit different footwork. Nothing crazy, but coach Ciarrocca is a very detailed guy, similar to [former offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne] in the footwork and the different drops.

"... One thing we talked about is, with footwork and a good, solid platform will come better accuracy."

The coin also has an interesting flip side. Ciarrocca seldom asked his quarterbacks to run as the offensive coordinator at Minnesota the past three seasons. Obviously he knows better than to transfer that approach to Clifford, who was the team’s third-leading rusher last season.

"We’d be crazy not to run our quarterbacks,” Ciarrocca said. "That’s one of the things that they do really well.”

Penn State made the quarterback run a bedrock element of its offense under former coordinator Joe Moorhead, and Rahne retained that element with Trace McSorley and Clifford. In fact, the Lions probably leaned too heavily on running, which nagging injuries to both quarterbacks underscored in both 2018 and 2019.

Meanwhile, Ciarrocca really hasn’t asked his quarterbacks to run significantly. Over the past seven years, as offensive coordinator at Western Michigan and Minnesota, Ciarrocca hasn’t had a quarterback run more than 80 times in a season.

At Minnesota last year, Ciarrocca relied on quarterback Tanner Morgan’s skillset in the passing game rather than force-feed him carries. Morgan had 61 attempted runs, losing 57 yards because of sacks. The quarterback run simply wasn’t a compelling argument in the offense – nor did it need to be when Morgan compiled a 90-percent completion rate against Penn State.

But head coach James Franklin recruited Clifford and Will Levis to lead offenses that hinged on running quarterbacks. And Ciarrocca quickly grasped the kind of running talent both quarterbacks possess. He also said that "these guys look different than Tanner," with frames able to withstand more pounding.

"One of their strengths in their athleticism," Ciarrocca said of Penn State’s quarterbacks. "So we’re going to continue to do that. I Just think you have to be prudent with it. How many times are you asking him to run between the tackles, that type of stuff, in a game? But it will be from game to game, depending on who we’re playing and what we need to do to give us the best chance to win the game. It’s really that simple.

"I do understand that, every time I ask him to run the ball, I’ve increased his opportunity or risk of an injury, that’s for sure. But hey, it is part of the game. And the one thing about these quarterbacks here, besides the fact that they’re athletic, is, I’ve been really impressed with their work in the weight room and the way their bodies are built and how they look physically. That’s a tribute to our strength staff and what they’ve done with these guys."

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