McKees Rocks native and current Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements has applied to replace Joe Paterno as head coach at Penn State according to Bob Cohn and Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Clements is in his sixth season with the Packers, where he's coached quarterbacks Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers under fellow Western Pennsylvania native Mike McCarthy. He's also coached in the college ranks at Notre Dame and in the NFL with New Orleans, Kansas City, Pittsburgh and Buffalo.
According to Chon and Rossi, he has the support of Kenny Jackson, former All-American at wide receiver for the Nittany Lions.
"I've been fortunate to play for a lot of good coaches and work with a lot of good coaches, and I know this guy can coach," Jackson said of Clements, with whom he worked for two seasons on Cowher's staff.
"I coached receivers (with the Steelers), and he was the quarterbacks coach and he made people better," said Jackson. "You can see what he's done with Rodgers. I've watched how players respected him, watched how they interacted with Tommy, how calm and organized he was. I have the feeling he's gonna be a great head coach in the right situation."
Clements, 58, is the second Packers assistant in less than a week to be connected to the Penn State job. Safeties coach and former Nittany Lion All-American Darren Perry expressed interest in replacing Paterno last week, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ron Musselman.
For the latest in the Penn State coaching search, stay tuned to SB Nation Pittsburgh.