NFL Draft Expert Labels Clemson Tigers Star as Most Improved in College Football

The Clemson Tigers success this season has been in huge part to the improvements that junior quarterback Cade Klubnik has made.

Alexander Hicks-Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers have produced a plethora of quarterbacks for the NFL throughout Dabo Swinney's tenure.

The head coach is a fan of quarterbacks who are more than capable of getting the ball downfield with their arm and can also tuck the ball and run should the situation call for it.

From Tigers' legends like Deshaun Watson, Tajh Boyd, and Trevor Lawrence, Swinney has had no shortage of quarterback talent to work with and meld as he sees fit.

That has been no different with the current Clemson quarterback, junior Cade Klubnik.

Klubnik committed to the Tigers out of Westlake High School in Austin, Texas in 2021, joining the program after graduating in 2022.

He came to Swinney as the 13th-ranked recruit in the country, the second-best quarterback, and the third-best recruit in the state of Texas, all per 247 Sports.

While he did not start out of the gate as a freshman, Klubnik did earn the starting job last season, though he did not seem to be quite ready for the pressure, and struggled on the field, throwing for 2,844 yards with 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions, while rushing for 182 yards on 125 attempts and scoring four touchdowns.

His game has seen a drastic improvement of late, with NFL Draft expert Ryan Roberts giving the junior high praise.

"There hasn’t been a more improved quarterback in CFB this season than Clemson star Cade Klubnik," Roberts tweeted, "He’s playing a lot more confidently, and his tools are starting to flash a lot more."

Roberts could not be more spot on.

Last year, Klubnik's passing yards came on 290 completions to 454 attempts, a 63.9 percent completion percentage.

This season, Klubnik has thrown for 1,836 yards through the first seven games (146-for-219, a 66.7 completion percentage), and has already surpassed last year's touchdown total with 20 to only three interceptions.

He has also improved his running game, rushing for 227 yards on only 41 attempts, while adding another four touchdowns on the ground.

Klubnik has been a big piece of Clemson's success this season, helping lead the team to a 6-1 record and 5-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, and he still has no less than five games left on the season to make an even bigger mark than he has already made.

Klubnik's game has seen a drastic improvement over where it was just last year, and the Tigers are all the better for it.