Cade Klubnik set to lead players into all-important summer workouts

Cade Klubnik and the Tigers enter another phase of the preseason leadup now.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sat Apr 22 07:00:17 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON – Cade Klubnik and the Clemson players head into summer workouts with an eye on a healthy fall camp.

Klubnik, the Tigers’ starting quarterback, helped his team to a 20-13 victory in the spring game a week ago today. The Tigers installed a new offense under Garrett Riley but did so without many of its key pieces and Klubnik can’t wait to get everyone healthy and back on the field at the same time.

"We’ve got little glimpses of it the last couple of weeks. It’s been fun," Klubnik said. "It’s great to have Beaux (Collins) back. I think we have like seven scholarship receivers out right now; that’s a lot. So it’ll be fun to get Beaux and Adam (Randall), and Jake Briningstool just got a little tweaked up today, didn’t want to push it. It’ll be so fun, that’s the biggest thing I’ve seen this year is our receivers, the depth but also the skill that they have. Just throughout spring."

Next up? The all-important summer workouts, something that head coach Dabo Swinney calls the Transformation Phase.

"I can’t wait to lead this offense and lead this team throughout the summer,” Klubnik said. "We were just talking as a team a second ago and Coach Swinney says ‘we’ll hit you up in August.’ First day of fall camp we want to see the best … I’m just excited to push guys to places they’ve never been before, in a good way. Just encourage guys and lead them. I’m just so excited for the guys we have coming back. Just going into the summer excited for skills and drills, excited to get to work.

"Summer is just really when a team transforms."

Summer workouts are when player leaders step to the front.

"I'd say the summer is a time for us to get to work. It's very player-led. Skills and drills we're having pretty much two to three practices a week just as players,” Klubnik said. “No coaches are out there so just a time for leaders to step up on the offense and the defense. I think that really makes the team because it's guys having to be pushed and push themselves for the first time ever so it's really good for the guys that haven't had a full summer yet."

The offense will add a few more pieces in June – including wide receivers Tyler Brown and Ronan Hanifan – and Klubnik can’t wait to get to work and help out his new teammates.

"Just taking it one day at a time really. It can be a little bit of a shocker but just realizing that it'll all slow down and the game's faster but it's way more fun,” he said. “The offense is good for the receivers coming in, the guys on offense, just take it one day at a time."