Cade Klubnik’s second game at Clemson didn’t go as smoothly as his college debut.
The Tigers’ talented first-year quarterback led a fourth-quarter touchdown drive against Georgia Tech on Sept. 5, but looked like a true freshman in limited action against Furman last Saturday.
Klubnik took nine total snaps against the Paladins, completing only one of his four passes for -2 yards across two possessions. That came after the season opener against the Yellow Jackets, when he went 4-of-6 passing for 49 yards – including a 3-yard touchdown toss to Will Taylor – on one, 10-play drive.
Although the former five-star prospect hasn’t been on the field a lot yet, Clemson offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter believes Klubnik has benefitted from the brief experience he’s gotten so far.
“I think every snap that he gets is a learning experience at a young age – not only watching when DJ (Uiagalelei)’s out there, but then whenever he gets a chance to get out there and be the quarterback of the offense – every little experience is important,” Streeter said Monday. “So, man, he’s learned a lot of things in these first two games.”
Klubnik took his first game reps with the first-team offense on the Tigers’ fourth series of the Furman game. He threw incomplete and took a sack on two of the possession’s five plays before Clemson punted.
Klubnik wasn’t put back in until the Tigers inserted other backups, too, with the game well in hand with less than 3 minutes left. He threw incomplete on first down, completed a pass to Taylor for a 2-yard loss on second down and then threw incomplete again on third down before Clemson punted.
Streeter sees Saturday’s game as another learning opportunity for Klubnik.
“There were some positives and then there’s things to correct that he needs to learn from, and that just comes with the position,” Streeter said. “As long as you’re learning from the mistakes and not making the same mistake and just really being able to move forward without making that same mistake, it’s improvement right there.”
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