Tennessee DC Knows Stopping Clemson Will Be a Challenge

Tennessee DC Tim Banks heaped praise on newly minted Clemson QB Cade Klubnik.

Zach Lentz | Dec 27, 2022

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DANIA BEACH, FL.—The Tennessee Volunteers will have their hands full when they take on a Clemson Tiger squad that is playing with a renewed sense of confidence behind newly minted starting quarterback Cade Klubnik.

"Obviously they brought in a young quarterback and I thought they did a tremendous job. You could see why they play him," Volunteer defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. "You could see why they have so much confidence in him. I didn't feel like they missed a beat. Those guys do a great job with their RPO concepts. They have a really strong run game to do a great job that way. And like I said, the quarterback's extremely athletic. I think he has a strong arm. He's obviously young. He doesn't have a big body of work, but the reps that you saw, that you see, you understand that the future is bright for him. So our guys understand that. We understand it's going to be a great challenge. Like I said, they're definitely looking forward to it."

Banks continued his praise of Klubnik, adding that he has the full attention of the Volunteers ahead of their matchup on December 30 (8 pm, ESPN).

"You see the strong arm on tape. He definitely shows some off-schedule type play-making skills, but until you get in the game and actually see exactly how fast he is, you know how strong he is, you just never know," Banks added. "But I can tell you this, he's definitely got our guys' attention by what he's done on tape and we have a lot of respect for the Clemson program as a whole.

"So we know he is talented. He wouldn't be there if he wasn't. And for those guys to put him into the championship game and thrust him into that role, we understand the type of confidence that they have in him. We understand that we're going to have to play our best game to be able to try to control."

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