Liam Clifford is no stranger to the Penn State wide receiver room. The redshirt senior has been with the Nittany Lions since the 2021 season.

Since he’s been in college, the landscape of college football has changed dramatically in terms of the transfer portal. It has become increasingly rare to see players stay at a singular program, especially for five straight seasons.

The transfer portal has allowed the veteran wideout to take on a leadership role within the receiver room. Whether wide receiver’s coach Marques Hagans is bringing in young or old talent, Clifford remains optimistic that with more competition coming into the program, a better product will come out.

“It’s important to have a room that there’s always competition going on just to make everybody better,” Clifford said. “Continuing to compete against each other and bring the best out of each other is all important.”

Clifford, although a trusted receiver, hasn’t had a memorable season on the stat sheets in his time with the Nittany Lions. In his best season to date, Clifford posted 15 receptions for 266 yards and a touchdown as a redshirt junior. The wide receiver group wasn’t explosive last season and was often seen as an afterthought to tight end Tyler Warren and running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

After the season, Clifford went to work. He explained that working on his route running as well as his catching ability were at the top of his list for offseason objectives. The Nittany Lion also harped on the importance of being a leader in the room as Penn State has brought in three different receivers from the transfer portal.

“I wanted to focus on continuing to catch the ball, catching as many balls as I can throughout the day, ultimately instill the confidence in our coaches, and then just be more of a leader,” Clifford said. “I think it’s been big for me having guys come in every year that are new. It’s a little bit hard sometimes to gauge what feelings can be like. So it was good to have the spring with these guys… Everybody takes care of their jobs.”

Kyron Hudson and Devonte Ross headlined the winter transfer portal as two starting options for offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki’s offense. When they were introduced to the program, Clifford instantly noticed an impact.

“I think they fit really well. Guys that have played a lot of football, which is great, and both two different types of players as well. So being able to have multiple different types of guys that can do things well for our offense, which is big, Clifford said. “Having more guys come in that have played a lot of football will always boost competition… It’s important. It’s something we talk about all the time in our room is that coach [Marques] Hagans is going to bring in guys, whether they’re young or old, that are going to make the room better.”

As for younger talent, Clifford talked about true freshman Lyrick Samuel and his progress throughout the springtime. With a 6’4″ frame, the Nittany Lion is due to be a star in the upcoming years for Penn State. As a leader in the position group, Clifford has taken notice of Samuel’s improvement.

“Lyrick’s been awesome. He’s a guy who has a really big frame, and it will be able to fill out and still develop. Has great hands, runs good routes, and picked up the playbook well, which was always exciting to see a young guy do that.”

With the culmination of spring ball, Clifford and the rest of the Nittany Lions head to the summer portion of the offseason. The wideout expressed that the summer is where the entire team gets in shape for the upcoming season. As for expectations for the position group this season, Clifford wants everyone to know what the identity of the group is.

“I just want people watching us to see that we’re extremely tough, no matter what. That’s something we talk about in the room, we pride ourselves on, and then ultimately the rest will take care of itself,” Clifford said. “It’s always competitive. Every year we always talk about how much we’re competing, and that’s how it should be.”