Klubnik stands up and delivers emotional speech to his teammates

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AUSTIN – Cade Klubnik stood in the middle of Clemson’s locker room and delivered the kind of speech that will resonate into the offseason and beyond.

Klubnik’s Tigers were fresh off of the 38-24 defeat at the hands of the Texas Longhorns, and an emotional Klubnik stared at his teammates, all of them hurting, and knew he had to say something.

“I hate losing. I hate losing, and I hate losing in the playoffs. But nobody picked us to be here in the beginning,” Klubnik said. “Nobody believed in us. Nobody really wanted us here. But we believed in each other, and this group of guys that has fought together -- you know, I just think of Jake Briningstool and Barrett (Carter) and Tristan Leigh and Marcus (Tate), just naming a few guys, I feel like a year ago they were just like my teammates, and this year they're like truly my brothers. Because we've walked through life together, we've walked through hard times. I spoke up and shared how much it sucked and also was kind of vulnerable.”

The speech even influenced head coach Dabo Swinney.

“He's just a competitor. That kid, he's one of the guys that spoke up in there and just talked about, he said this is the most fun he's ever had playing football this team, this year,” Swinney said. “Most fun he's ever had. Pretty strong statement. You saw the heart of our quarterback, how about that guy? Just incredible, incredible leadership in the locker room. I wish everybody could experience what I just experienced in the locker room, the leadership of our guys. How much they love each other.”

Klubnik said his emotions were all over the place because of the realization that he would no longer have the chance to share a locker room with so many of the seniors that supported him when he took over as the starting quarterback.

“I also just kind of shared with them that I'm very thankful that I get to go through hard times -- that I get to go through hard times with people that I love and that love me because I can't imagine going through the stuff that we've gone through where I didn't love the people around me,” Klubnik said. “I'm hurting a lot. I've had a lot of emotions going on, but I'm going to miss a lot of these guys because they've had such an impact on the player that I am, but the man that I'm going to be and that I am now. So just kind of wanted to tell everybody in the room that.”

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