It’s fair to say that in two seasons at Clemson, Cade Klubnik has felt the pressure. In his freshman season, Klubnik came onto the field to replace the struggling DJ Uiagalelei in the ACC Championship game. He had only previously thrown the ball 20 times as a college quarterback in games that had been mostly closed out. The former five-star recruit looked to have a bright future with the Tigers, completing 20 passes from 24 attempts for 279 passing yards, one touchdown, and adding a rushing touchdown.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney announced that Klubnik would continue as the starter in the Orange Bowl against Tennessee. His performance in the Orange Bowl was the polar opposite of what we saw in the ACC Championship game: throwing zero touchdowns and two interceptions. That bad performance followed him into the 2023 season.
Cade Klubnik 2023 Stats And Production
Following his freshman season, Cade Klubnik was confirmed as the starter for Clemson heading into his sophomore season. It was a rough start in the week 1 loss to Duke, with it not getting any more positive for Klubnik. He finished the season with 290-454, for 2,844 passing yards, 19 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Klubnik was credited with 125 rushing attempts for 182 yards and four touchdowns. Most of these rushing attempts were after the pocket collapsed, and he looked to run backward rather than try to gain positive yards. The former five-star was way off the pace compared to others from the 2022 class of quarterbacks.
Cade Klubnik showed significant inconsistencies across the 2023 season. There was no one game where he put together a complete performance. His lack of vision, passing accuracy, and turnovers were also a problem. Klubnik faced a ton of pressure from opposing defensive fronts, with the Tigers’ offensive line struggling. This didn’t help with his ball placement on throws and his inability to stay in the pocket. Still, there are signs that 2024 could be better in his development.
Cade Klubnik 2024 Devy Outlook
Cade Klubnik heads into the 2024 season with plenty to prove. However, despite all the bad from last season, there was a good chunk of drives where he showcased the talent we saw on his high school tape. Klubnik must remove the mistakes and inconsistencies in his junior season to be relevant to players with devy shares. Cutting down the turnovers, which he had 14 of last season, nine interceptions, and ten fumbles, five of them lost, is another must for next season.
If you watched even a small portion of his games last season, you could see his arm talent and throwing mechanics were good when under zero pressure. Cade Klubnik had most of his struggles when under pressure, causing him to sometimes go kamikaze with his throws. Slowing the game down in his head will benefit him significantly when reading the field.
Clemson beat writers and analysts say the Tigers should look much better on offense next season. If this is true, Klubnik could be in for a better season in 2024. With a week 1 game against Georgia, he does not want to be low on confidence coming out of that game.
Final Thoughts
Even with a good season, Cade Klubnik will likely not declare for the 2025 NFL Draft. That is a good thing, as it gives him two seasons to iron out these inconsistencies that have seen him fall way below the other 2025 draft-eligible quarterbacks.
Klubnik is in a similar position to Spencer Rattler after two years with Oklahoma. The more positive thing for Cade Klubnik is that he still has at an elite program with a head coach who sees him as the starter. If you have shares invested in the Clemson quarterback, you need to sit back and hope you see improvement to return some of that value from where you drafted him.
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