Cade Klubnik says leading comeback over Syracuse was a 'dream come true'

Cade Klubnik is congratulated by head coach Dabo Swinney Saturday.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Oct 27 07:00:04 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Cade Klubnik knows that DJ Uiagalelei is the starter, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have a lot of fun leading the Tigers to a comeback win over Syracuse. In fact, it was a dream come true.

Klubnik led three second-half scoring drives to help the Tigers stay unbeaten and win their 38th straight game at home, a new ACC record. Klubnik entered the game midway through the third quarter with the Tigers trailing 21-10 following Uiagalelei's third turnover. He finished the day 2-for-4 for 19 yards and rushed the ball six times for 15 years, and his biggest play might have been on a late 2-point conversion in which he threw a dart into the back of the endzone.

But Klubnik told the media that while he had fun, he knows that barring something unfortunate, Uiagalelei will start against Notre Dame next week.

"We all have so much trust in D.J. and like we’ve been saying, he’s our guy," Klubnik said. "DJ’s going to lead us. We’re all right behind him. That whole QB room is also tight. Just the love that we have in there. There’s not really one guy that stands out. Obviously, DJ is the guy but, like, we’re all just so tight and we all just have so much trust in each other."

Klubnik said he was prepared when head coach Dabo Swinney told him to get ready.

"Coach Swinney’s been saying that confidence comes from preparation. Coach Swinney, Coach (Brandon) Streeter and that whole QB room, we’ve been preparing all week,” Klubnik said. “We prepare every week like every single one of us is going to start the game. I am just excited to get my moment.

“Our offense, we were running the ball on them all day. They really just couldn’t stop our offense. We just kept shooting ourselves in the foot whenever we had some good drives going. I don’t think it was anything the defense was doing, it was just kind of us hurting ourselves."

Klubnik said Uiagalelei was more than supportive.

“He just came up to me first of all and told me he was proud of me, proud of me for playing my game. And the preparation we’ve doing over the past 10 months together, he was proud of me,” Klubnik said. “I just told him, ‘This is your team, man. You might’ve had an off game, but this is your team and in two weeks from now, you’re going to come back and do something you’ve been wanting to do and waiting to do for a while against Notre Dame.’ We’re going to enjoy this. I think I’m getting a little bit too much of the credit.”

Playing was the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

"Such a dream come true. I’m just so thankful for that moment. I kind of went into the game with a little bit different feeling. It’s been up and down throughout the year, but I’ve been such at peace with what God’s been doing,” Klubnik said. “I’ve been having people kind of holding me along that, it’s just not my time, especially after the Georgia Tech game I got that one drive. I was so thankful to have that. Win a couple games and without getting to go in. I was just so thankful in having peace in that, that it’s God’s time and not mine.

"I kind of looked up before the last two-point (play) and kind of took a glance around and (thought), ‘This is pretty dang cool.’”