Quarterback Sean Clifford to Start Vs. Illinois

The Penn State quarterback returns to the lineup two weeks after his injury at Iowa.

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford will start Saturday vs. Illinois, two weeks after leaving the Iowa game with an undisclosed injury.

The Lions announced Clifford as the starter before the game at Beaver Stadium, ending a week of speculation during which head coach James Franklin declined to name one. Franklin said that quarterbacks Clifford, Ta'Quan Roberson and Christian Veilleux took equal practice reps Wednesday, when he called the situation "fluid."

Clifford, who is making his 26th career start, practiced this week, though Franklin offered little regarding the quarterback's injury or recovery time. Franklin said that the team would have missed Clifford's leadership on the field ("To understate that would not be accurate," he said), adding that the quarterback was a constant presence in the football building this week.

"He kind of lives in there, watching film and obviously getting treatment and doing everything he possibly can to put him in the best possible position to get back as soon as possible, whenever that may be," Franklin said.

Clifford looked fit in pregame drills, throwing without apparent restrictions. Roberson and Veilleux played their normal roles as the second and third during pregame drills.

Roberson, a redshirt sophomore, has played in six games in three years at Penn State, compiling a 37.9-percent passing rate (11 for 29) for 85 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.

Veilleux, a true freshman, also could see the first playing time of his career. Veilleux, who is from Ottawa, Ontario, enrolled in January but hasn't played in a live game since 2019. His 2020 season at The Bullis School in Maryland, where he played for one season, was canceled during the pandemic.

Veilleux threw for 2,006 yards and 29 touchdowns in 10 games at Bullis in 2019.

"It changes," Franklin said this week of the gameplan with a different starting quarterback. "With Sean, there's a lot of things we can do. I wouldn't necessarily say that our offense will change stylistically, but you want to say, 'OK, Ta'Quon, what do you feel really good about?'"

At Iowa, Penn State struggled with its play-calling cadence, which the crowd affected, resulting in eight false-start penalties. Franklin said he was "informed that's been a conversation in town" and addressed the issue over the past two weeks.

"We're working on it every single day, and Ta'Quan's reps with the [first team] in practice with [center] Mike Miranda have been helpful," Franklin said. "And I think the thing I've said to you guys before is, we have a decibel counter on the sideline, a mic to monitor all of these in each stadium and then make sure that our practice decibels are louder than what they get in the stadium.

"We will continue to get our guys prepared to handle challenging situations like that, and it won't be the last one."

In fact, Penn State faces a potentially louder environment Oct. 30, when it visits Ohio State for a primetime game on ABC.

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