Clemson's Cade Klubnik survives spring tornadoes, now ready for fall camp

Cade Klubnik is ready for fall camp to get started.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Mon Jul 25 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Some players like to compare their first days of college football practice to a whirlwind, but freshman quarterback Cade Klubnik says his first foray into college athletics was more like a tornado. A tornado that formed every day.

Klubnik is the freshman out of Austin (TX) Westlake who enrolled in Clemson in January with an impressive high school resume. He was ranked as the top quarterback in the nation by Sports Illustrated, PrepStar, and Rivals.com, and ranked as second-best quarterback by 247Sports and third by ESPN.com. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Texas and was named as one of three finalists for National Gatorade Player of the Year for 2021.

Klubnik was also named MVP of the Elite 11 Camp last summer, and he guided Westlake to three consecutive state championships in 2019, 2020 and 2021, including the final two years as the starter. He became the first quarterback to go undefeated as a starter while winning back-to-back state titles in Texas’ highest classification since Allen’s Kyler Murray.

Klubnik is expected to battle incumbent DJ Uiagalelei this fall for a starting spot, but Klubnik said he thinks the rest of the quarterback room is ready to compete.

“Yes, it's been awesome. It's been great. Just kind of getting to know all of them and we have a really awesome QB class,” Klubnik said at Sunday’s Dear Old Clemson NIL event. “Hunter Johnson, Hunter Helms, Billy Wiles, DJ, and now Trent Pearman. We are all super tight. So it's been awesome and it'll be fun to go into camp and compete.”

Despite all of the high school accolades, Klubnik said adjusting to college practices was tough.

“I feel like I've come very far this summer, just because in spring ball it just feels like you're in a tornado every single day and then getting spit out, and then a new tornado, but it's kind of calmed down,” he said. “It's been fun to just kind of relax and get in the groove of things but just continue to master the offense.”

Klubnik weighed 179 pounds when he arrived on campus, but he will enter fall camp weighing close to 195.

“We've got an amazing strength and conditioning program and our nutritionist have helped,” Klubnik said. “I didn't really want to put on too much weight too fast because I want to be able to keep my speed and athleticism. I didn’t want to come and just put on 25 pounds. So I feel like I want to slow down.

“I think in high school I always knew that my body was very important to me and I feel like I've always done a very good job of taking care of it and just doing all the extra rehab, but also lots of shoulder care, lots of body care. Just make sure that I'm fixing little things before they get worse. So it's been even easier now that I am here.”

Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said that Uiagalelei was the starter heading into fall camp, and Klubnik agreed with that assessment.

“DJ has had a heck of spring and heck of summer. He's an amazing player and amazing guy,” he said. “It's been awesome to just learn from him and our relationship has definitely grown a ton. It's been really cool. He's definitely a really good mentor. DJ has done nothing right now to not be the starter and he deserves 100% to be the starter.

“I hope he goes and balls out this year.”

No matter who starts, it’s likely that Klubnik will see snaps when the Tigers take on Georgia Tech in the Mercedes-Benz Dome in Atlanta in the season opener. Just thinking about it gets Klubnik excited.

“I get goosebumps,” he said. “I grew up loving football. Growing up, I dreamed of playing college football. So this is a dream come true for me.”