Cade Klubnik (born October 10, 2003) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) ...

High school career

Klubnik attended Westlake High School in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. During his high school career he passed for 7,426 yards with 86

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and seven interceptions and won three state championships. In summer 2021 before his senior year, he was named the MVP of the Elite 11. As a senior he was named the All-American Bowl Player of the Year, MaxPreps Player of the Year and was the

Gatorade Football Player of the Year The Gatorade Player of the Year awards are given annually to up and coming high school student-athletes in the United States. They are given for boys' baseball, boys' and girls' basketball, boys' and girls' cross country, boys' football, boys' a ...

for Texas. A five-star recruit, Klubnik was rated as the top quarterback in his class and committed to Clemson University to play college football.

College career

Klubnik enrolled early at Clemson in January 2022. Throughout Klubnik's freshman season, he was used primarily as a backup to

DJ Uiagalelei David John "DJ" Uiagalelei ( ; born April 17, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the Oregon State Beavers. He previously played for the Clemson Tigers before entering the transfer portal in 2022. Early life and high school career Uiag ...

. During Clemson's opening game against Georgia Tech in 2022, Klubnik passed for 49 yards and a touchdown. He saw significant action in relief of a benched Uiagalelei against

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

, a game which Clemson won narrowly in a 27–21 comeback. In the

ACC Championship Game The ACC Championship Game is an annual American college football game held in early December by the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) each year to determine its football champion. From its inception in 2005 to 2022, the game pit the champion of ...

, he got the starting nod over Uiagalelei. He passed for 279 yards and a touchdown in the 39–10 win over

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He was their starter in the

2022 Orange Bowl The 2022 Orange Bowl was a college football bowl game played on December 30, 2022, at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 89th annual Orange Bowl, the game featured Clemson from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and Tennessee from ...

against

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

due to Uiagalelei entering the transfer portal. Klubnik had to deal with constant pressure from Tennessee. Despite the pressure, he helped lead Clemson to numerous scoring opportunities that did not result in points. He got sacked four times and threw two interceptions to go along with 320 passing yards. Tennessee dominated the

, winning 31-14.

References

External links

Clemson Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klubnik, Cade 2003 births Living people Players of American football from Austin, Texas American football quarterbacks Clemson Tigers football players