As he prepares for his final season, Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford is launching his own NIL agency to support and help other student-athletes navigate new regulations across college athletics.

In a detailed interview with ESPN, Clifford explained the origin and outlook of his company, Limitless NIL, as well as his personal experiences with the NCAA’s new name, image, and likeness rules.

This class of student-athletes have the opportunity to set the stage for the next generation to come. When I created Limitless, I asked “what is the perfect agency for US?” Today, I am happy to announce I turned it into reality @LimitlessNil #Limitless https://t.co/VPjzOgFcZW

— Sean Clifford (@seancliff14) April 11, 2022

“Clifford’s idea came from his own involvement with NIL last year,” ESPN’s Pete Thamel wrote. “He made more than $100,000 but had mixed experiences with professional agencies.”

As the CEO of Limitless, Clifford expects his status as an active student-athlete to offer a more approachable perspective for the company’s clients.

“It’s the agency that I was looking for that I couldn’t find,” Clifford told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “It’s for the players, by the players. I wanted to do something to leave even more of a legacy than just on the field. And I thought that this was kind of the way that I wanted to go.”

“A lot of bigger agencies lack the strategy for content creation and the marketing specialty,” Clifford continued. “What athletes should be posting day in and out. How they should be building their brand and interacting with the community.”

Since filing the initial paperwork in January, Limitless has attracted five clients:

• Ji’Ayir Brown, Penn State football safety
• Myles Dread, Penn State men’s basketball guard
• Anna Camden, Penn State women’s basketball forward
• Ishaan Jagiasi, Penn State men’s basketball guard
• Brendan Bates, Kentucky football tight end

Brown told ESPN that he was frustrated with the lack of NIL interest in State College. Through Limitless, he’s working to lock down his first NIL deal: a custom pizza at Snap Custom Pizza. Boasting his favorite pizza toppings (bacon, sausage, and perhaps even pineapple), the “Tig Pie” could debut once the endorsement deal is finalized.

The Penn State safety reported he would “trust Sean with [his] life” and said it was a “dream come true, to have something named [after him].”

Clifford is not the only Nittany Lion to be involved in the business side of the venture. Current Penn State wide receiver Liam Clifford, Sean’s brother, is set to serve as the agency’s director of development. Meanwhile, Aeneas Hawkins, who medically retired from Penn State football in January, will serve as its chief athletic officer.

Penn State has been careful to work with Clifford to ensure his compliance with NCAA rules, though the university’s willingness to support independent NIL deals is clearly a focal point for the program.

“Sean has demonstrated great passion, interest and creativity early on in this NIL space and has gained invaluable business experiences,” football head coach James Franklin told ESPN. “He has taken advantage of the NIL opportunities presented to him, but he has also taken it upon himself to educate his teammates on the impact NIL can have. We are supportive of what Sean has done with NIL to this point, and I hope to see more of our student-athletes take advantage of similar opportunities in the future, just as Sean has.”