The outside observers clamoring for Cade Klubnik to get his shot operating with Clemson’s starters got their wish early during the Tigers’ win over Furman.
Clemson’s first-year quarterback took his first game reps with the first-team offense on the Tigers’ fourth series of Saturday’s game, though things didn’t go as smoothly as they did when Klubnik led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive against Georgia Tech five days earlier. For the first time in his brief collegiate career, Klubnik looked like a true freshman, throwing incomplete and taking a sack on two of the possession’s five plays before Clemson punted.
It was also a seemingly odd time to make the switch from D.J. Uiagalelei.
Clemson’s offense was humming with Uiagalelei at the controls. The Tigers scored touchdowns on each of their first three possessions and already had north of 200 total yards once Will Shipley scampered in for a 17-yard touchdown to give Clemson a 21-3 lead early in the second quarter.
Uiagalelei was sharp out of the gate, completing his first six passes and eight of his first nine. Four of those completions covered 19 yards or more, including a 23-yarder to Davis Allen deep into Furman territory that set up Shipley’s scoring run.
Yet when Clemson’s offense got the ball back, it was Klubnik who took the field with the ones. Kobe Pace picked up one first down for the Tigers with back-to-back runs to start the possession, but Clemson lost 2 yards on its next three plays. After a first-down incompletion, Klubnik was tackled for no gain on second and forced out of bounds for a sack on third while trying to beat Furman’s defense to the perimeter on a scramble.
Furman immediately mounted a quick five-play, 54-yard scoring drive to trim Clemson’s lead to two scores. Asked why the Tigers decided to try Klubnik when the offense was seemingly in a good rhythm under Uiagalelei’s direction, offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said it was a decision made during the week to get the freshman in the game earlier.
“No matter the situation, we wanted to get Cade in sometime in that second quarter. And it just worked out perfectly with how it went,” Streeter said. “Three touchdowns, 3-for-3, and then get Cade in there. Trying to get his some valuable experience, some meaningful experience, whenever that first offensive line was in.
“Just trying to build his confidence, too. A young player that’s got all kinds of talent. We saw what he can do already, but he’s just got to learn a couple of things. Throw the ball away. Not taking a sack. But just super proud of him.”
When Clemson’s offense started its next possession a few minutes later, Uiagalelei was back in. The Tigers answered with another touchdown drive, something Clemson achieved on each of the first five drives led by Uiagalelei to take a commanding 35-9 lead with 9 minutes and change left in the third quarter.
Uiagalelei completed 77.7% of his passes on the day (21 of 27) for 231 yards and two touchdowns. He also threw an interception late in the third quarter when he tried to force a pass into a tight window to Brannon Spector, but it was the only real blemish throughout the most efficient passing performance Uiagalelei has had in his first three seasons at Clemson.
“Really I think the biggest word is confidence,” Streeter said of Uiagalelei’s acumen throwing the ball. “I’ve seen guys go with not much confidence, and you can name a lot of things – accuracy, pocket presence is sloppy or whatever the case is – when they’re not confident about themselves or confident about making those plays. And whenever they gain that confidence, all of those things start coming back.”
Meanwhile, Klubnik, who finished 1 of 4 passing, wasn’t put back in until Clemson inserted other backups, too, with the game well in hand with less than 3 minutes left. Streeter said the decision to insert Klubnik when he did was a “one-week deal” where the coaching staff wanted to give him some time with the first-team offense, experience that could be helpful if Clemson needs Klubnik to log those kinds of snaps at some point later this season.
Going forward, though, Streeter said he doesn’t envision that being a predetermined move.
“I think from here on out, we’ll kind of evaluate how we’re playing, see where we’re at and kind of go from there,” he said.
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