Mistakes, Missed Opportunities Were the Theme in Clemson QB Cade Klubnik's First Start

Clemson freshman Cade Klubnik threw for 320 yards on 30-of-54 passing with two interceptions and no touchdowns through the air against Tennessee, but he struggled to help the Tigers get into the end zone.

Brad Senkiw | Jan 2, 2023

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Clemson Tigers

No. 7 Clemson's 31-17 loss to No. 6 Tennessee was disappointing for Dabo Swinney in a lot of ways.

But the Tigers' head coach was not upset with the effort from freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik in his first career start, despite the mistakes and growing pains that come with it.

"Y'all saw what this kid has got the ability to do," Swinney said. "He's got some plays, we all got plays, we'd like to have back, but you got a chance to see how special he can be."

Still, it was far from a complete performance for the young QB, who had a hard time getting Clemson across the goal line against the Vols. Klubnik threw for 320 yards on 30-of-54 passing with two interceptions and no touchdowns through the air.

He did score one on the ground, a 4-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that turned out to be the only time Clemson reached the end zone all night.

"The name of the game is points, and you get points by scoring touchdowns," Klubnik said. "We needed to score touchdowns, and we weren't doing that. Part of that was on me. I took a sack on third down. There was just a lot of missed opportunities."

Klubnik, who was sacked four times and hurried twice more, credited Tennessee's pass rush and how the Vols disguised their blitz scheme for much of Clemson's issues. The biggest problem for the Tigers, though, came in the red zone, where they went 2-of-4 and ran 56 of their 101 plays in UT territory.

"There were a lot of opportunities we had, especially in the red zone. But just we needed to finish," Klubnik said. "That's what we needed to do. We were driving on them every single drive. We just were. For some reason when we got inside the red zone, we just couldn't finish it."

Clemson racked up 484 total yards behind the freshman, who rushed for 51 yards on 12 carries.

"I don't think that was really the game plan coming into it, but ended up running some more inside zone, some more zone read, and just kind of happened," Klubnik said.

Klubnik was unable to win his first career start and didn't continue the momentum he built in the ACC Championship Game win over UNC. He didn't get rid of the ball late in the first half, mismanaged the clock and it cost Clemson a field-goal try.

But moving into 2023, he'll be the starting quarterback, and Swinney feels like he's seen enough from the young man who supplanted DJ Uiagalelei to give the head coach a belief that better days are ahead for the Tigers.

"He made a lot of great, great plays, but he also had some just mistakes, simple as that," Swinney said. "Just took some sacks on some hots (blitzes), took a sack on a sprint out, obviously the situation right there at the end (of the first half) can't happen.

"These are all things he'll learn from. But what a great opportunity, what a great moment for him to be able to go and play and compete."

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