Brandon Streeter recently revealed the benchmark that he’s consistently looking for from Clemson’s quarterbacks in terms of accuracy.
“We always want to be above 60%,” the Tigers’ first-year coordinator said last week in reference to his desired completion rate.
It was a mark that the Tigers’ quarterbacks fell well short of a season ago, particularly D.J. Uiagalelei. As part of a tumultuous 2021 for Uiagalelei and the rest of the offense, Clemson’s signal caller completed just 55.6% of his passes, second-lowest among ACC starters. As a team, the Tigers completed just 55.1% of their passes, which ranked 112th nationally.
While some factors outside of their control can affect it, primarily dropped passes, Clemson makes a habit of charting the quarterbacks’ throws in practice to determine their completion percentage. With that in mind, The Clemson Insider asked Streeter this week if Uiagalelei and his backup, true freshman Cade Klubnik, were at or above the threshold more often than not during preseason camp.
“They were. They were above that 60%, so that was really good to see,” Streeter said. “What we had installed for that day kind of depended on the percentage, but when you took the overall, both of those guys were over 60%. … It shows confidence. It shows understanding the big picture a little bit more. And then it shows a young guy that’s really been able to absorb the offense and do a good job of maintaining his confidence and throwing with accuracy.
“That’s the name of the game when you’re talking about quarterbacks as we all know. Man, it’s all good if you can throw it 70 or 80 yards, but if you’re not accurate, it really doesn’t matter. So the accuracy piece is one of the biggest things that we do chart.”
Clemson heads into its Labor Day opener against Georgia Tech with Uiagalelei still atop the depth chart at the position, something Streeter and head coach Dabo Swinney said he’s earned with the way he’s performed since the spring. Streeter said midway through camp he’d seen an improvement in ball placement from Uiagalelei, who said he focused on his footwork this offseason as part of mechanical improvements to his throwing motion.
Streeter and Swinney have also made it clear Klubnik will play this fall, though to what extent may ultimately be determined by Uiagalelei’s performance. Clemson’s latest five-star signee at the position, Klubnik had a career completion rate of 70% at Westlake (Texas) High and also brings an added dimension with his legs to the position.
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