Why Clemson QB target never saw himself as fallback option for Tigers
Quarterback Cade Klubnik of Austin, Texas played the waiting game with Clemson, and his patience paid off with an offer Friday from the Tigers.
Klubnik waited on the Tigers while they waited on QB Ty Simpson of Martin, Tennesseet. Simpson announced for Alabama Friday, and that set in motion a series of calls from Clemson coach Dabo Swinney to Klubnik with the offer he was waiting on.
“Coach Swinney called me about an hour before Ty’s commitment. And he said he was in a meeting, and he got the news that he heard from somebody that Ty was going to end up committing to Alabama,” Klubnik said. “He goes, ‘Let’s go. We’re getting Cade, baby.’ And then he ended up calling me. And they were all super pumped. I probably talked to him three times on separate occasions Friday, but they were all super excited. He ended up calling me saying he wants me to come play there.”
Klubnik is by no means a quarterback prospect anyone should pass over.
He led his team to the 6A state championship in Texas. He passed for 3,600 yards and 35 touchdowns last season. He’s rated a four-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite and is ranked as the No. 5 pro-style quarterback nationally. Some of his other offers are Texas, Texas A&M, Auburn, Arizona, Arizona State, North Carolina, Florida and Florida State. In other words, he doesn’t have to take a back seat to any other quarterback, and he never felt Clemson was treating him as a fallback option.
“They’ve told me multiple times that we’re kind of equal. It’s just, they’ve known him and they’ve gotten to meet him multiple times,” he said. “And that’s just kind of the only thing that was missing for them with me, but they’ve never made me feel like I was second, which is really good through the whole process. And I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that. I think I’ve just kind of felt like I’m a guy that they want.”
And Klubnik said it was the work quarterbacks coach Brandon Streeter put into recruiting him that convinced him to hang in with the Tigers until things worked their way out.
“Their consistency with me. It’s definitely been huge,” Klubnik said. “And just the people there, and the connections that I’ve made with them, and the relationships that I’ve built have definitely been really huge. Just people that I can see myself growing with for four years, and just good people, and just great program. It’s somewhere you can have fun while doing it.”
Klubnik has also had North Carolina, Texas and Florida among his favorites with Clemson. But the Tigers seem to be the one to capture his imagination.
He has not given a timetable on a commitment, but one may not be far off — possibly within the week.
