Cade's continuity: Clemson's lack of roster chaos becoming a growing advantage

Cade Klubnik goes into his fourth season with Clemson, leading an offense featuring some familiar names.

Grayson Mann - Staff Writer - Thursday, April 17 2025

In a world dominated by the NIL and the transfer portal, Clemson’s style is how they market it: uncommon.

For Cade Klubnik, he's known Clemson his entire collegiate career. Klubnik's path used to be the norm for signal callers in college football.

Normal is no longer the status quo.

That continuity isn't found in the sport anymore, especially in the last few recruiting classes. In Klubnik's 2022 class, four of the top 10 quarterbacks are still on the team they initially committed to.

Moving to the 2023 class, only three of the top 10 signal callers have stayed put. Excessive movement has become standard for the operation of the sport, but that's not the case everywhere.

Clemson's situation is rather unique, returning the most production in the entire country. For a team that's hungry for another taste of the College Football Playoff, that certainly is a significant factor when compared to the rest of the field.

On the most recent episode of the "Two Right Turns" podcast, Klubnik expressed how this team has a rare togetherness that has eluded the sport in recent years.

It doesn't hurt that everyone's very familiar with each other, only bringing in three transfers and welcoming the incoming freshman class.

"The spring's been really fun," Klubnik said. "I think that, honestly, the defense has made us better, the energy that they bring every day. There's no coasting through practice. It's day 13/14, and that's the biggest day. It's the highest energy day that we've had, and I think that that's uncommon. Other places, I think that other teams might see the end and see the freedom of what you want to call it of ending spring ball and having more time off. The last few practices have been the best practices."

For Klubnik, he enters his third year as the starter for Clemson, and has seemingly picked up right where he left off with Garrett Riley, who enters his third year as the Tigers' offensive coordinator.

That kind of continuity is rare on both ends, with Klubnik and Riley's pairing being one of two power four teams in the country with the same starting quarterback and coordinator for three straight years.

The pair can almost be symbiotic on Saturdays, having plenty of time together to assess how they work together as a team. Mix that in with an offense that's returning a bevy of starters, and the spring is less about catching up and more of a headstart on the season.

With this being Klubnik's last season at Clemson, the stability entering his senior season has also given him time to reflect on how the state of college football has worked around him.

Players can leave at the drop of a hat, making for a chaotic environment that doesn't always form the best of relationships, or results for certain programs.

In Klubnik's case, he's never had to worry about that type of chaos. He's known one team in his career, and that advantage is growing more evident to the rest of the country.

"My grade was really the first group of guys that came in and had to, that's where the portal really started, and it's tough to see a class like that move around and bounce around so much," Klubnik said. "It just made me so thankful that I chose here and just so thankful that I'm at a place where I don't want to leave and I don't have to leave. Just so thankful that I chose Clemson, but it's been so fun to be with Coach Riley in year three now, and just super, super excited. I feel like we just keep taking more and more steps forward and in the right direction.

For the longest time, Clemson has drawn the ire of local and national observers for not quite diving fully into the new world of college football.

Entering the 2025 season, the Tigers' three portal additions look like a dip in the shallow end compared to the rest of the sport.

Given the chaos many programs are enduring, that's slowly been flipped as an advantage for Clemson. The Tigers' signal-caller is the perfect example of that, now entering his third year with all the pieces and expectations to go with it.

Clemson's always marketed itself as uncommon.

Now, that different path is being looked upon with envy.