Swinney, Streeter have no regrets in not playing Cade Klubnik against Gamecocks

Cade Klubnik arrives in Charlotte ahead of what could be a critical moment for Clemson's football program.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Dec 07 07:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CHARLOTTE, NC – Both Clemson head Dabo Swinney and offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter say they have no regrets about the way the quarterback situation was handled.

Cade Klubnik came off the bench early in last Saturday’s ACC Championship victory over North Carolina and sparked the Tigers to a 39-10 victory over the Tar Heels. Klubnik was 20-of-24 for 279 yards, but it wasn’t the yardage or the points that mattered so much as the way the offense performed with Klubnik on the field.

The offense played loose and free, the ball was thrown down the field, correct decisions were made in the RPO game, and even the screen game worked.

Swinney was asked if the coaches regretted not using Klubnik the week before in the 31-30 loss to South Carolina after the offense mustered just 99 yards through the air.

“I've got a lot of regrets from the South Carolina game, but not really,” Swinney said. “Again, DJ (Uiagalelei) is not why we lost. But hindsight is always 20/20. There's a lot of things I wish we could have done over like 4th-and-1 and not fumbled the ball. There's a lot of things I wish we had a chance to do over, but you don't get a chance to do that. It's all about what's next for us.”

Streeter was asked the same question in his postgame media availability.

“Well, as I've said in the past, and I'll never regret anything that we've decided on doing with the quarterback decisions,” Streeter said. “There is no question about it, DJ was the leader of our team and our guys did a good job of rallying around him and it was just unfortunate week last week, it really was.”

Streeter said he was glad to see Klubnik shake off the pressure and perform on the big stage.

“Cade, he's as good a leader as I've ever been around, and it spreads to everybody else,” Streeter said. “He really shined when the lights were on tonight (Saturday). Not that he hasn't done that in the past, but just having that opportunity. He really did a good job of shining practice-wise. He's been solid at practice. He's definitely been solid at practice. So I'm just glad that he was able to be ready in this situation, especially again in the ACC Championship game. That's hard to do, and he did a good job of taking that pressure. We just had an awesome time.”

Klubnik said he was prepared for the situation.

“I think I had a little bit of a different mindset today (Saturday). I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I was pretty pumped. I just came ready to play free and just trust in God's time with everything,” Klubnik said. “I think that's been what I've learned most over the past six months really, is just trusting God's time with it and just having peace in that and having joy in that, knowing that I didn't know how the game was going to go. I really didn't. But I knew just that God was in control of the whole thing from the very start, from the first snap to now, and it's been awesome just to see what he's been doing. Just to be able to honor him through that has been awesome.”

Swinney said that Klubnik now has to build off of his breakout performance.

“One game doesn't make a career. He's got a long way to go and a lot of consistency ahead to kind of be there. But we recruited him with certainly high expectations, and he's coming in here, he's never lost a game as a starter, and he won three state championships in high school,” Swinney said. “Now he's coming here as a freshman and got MVP of his first championship game. So he's a special talent, and we knew that. We also knew he needed to develop some, and he's really put the work in. He's worked on his body. He's not quite 200, but he's right there, and he's really grasped things from just an offensive standpoint.

“But I think he's got -- he certainly has all the capability and all the tools to really be a great one. That's what we felt like him coming into this program. Sometimes you can put a guy out there too early, but you also have to have -- it's got to be a situation where a guy earns it. It happens when it happens. Tonight (Saturday) it kind of turned and he took it and ran with it. Again, he's got to keep it going. As soon as he has a bad game and we get the next guy in there, we'll probably want that backup to come on in. He's got a ways to go, but it's a great start for him for sure. A huge confidence boost.”