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Cade Klubnik is tabbed to start for the Clemson Tigers on Friday night as they take on the Tennessee Volunteers in the Orange Bowl. The quarterback spent most of the 2022 football season as the backup for starting quarterback DJ Uiagalelei.
However, during Clemson's ACC Championship game against the University of North Carolina, Uiagalelei sat on the bench due to the offense's lackluster performance. Klubnik replaced him and led the Tigers to victory.
After the game, Uiagalelei announced that he was entering the NCAA transfer portal and eventually committing to Oregon State. This has led the Tigers to stick with their freshman heading into the coveted Orange Bowl game.
Where is Cade Klubnik from?
Cade Klubnik attended and played football at Westlake High School near Austin, Texas. He threw for over 7,400 yards during his high school career and won three Texas State Championships.
His standout performance in high school made him a five-star recruit and the top quarterback in the 2022 class, where he committed to playing college football at Clemson University. He enrolled early in January 2022, earning additional time to learn the offense and connect with the team during spring ball.
How old is QB Cade Klubnik? What year is he in?
Cade Klubnik is a 19-year-old true freshman for the Clemson Tigers. Although he was the primary backup up until the ACC Championship game, he did make six other appearances throughout the season.
In all, he had a 67.4% completion rate, 377 passing yards, two passing touchdowns, and one rushing touchdown. The biggest sample size that Tigers fans can use for reference is the ACC Championship game. The 19-year-old went 20 for 24 with 309 combined yards and two touchdowns and was crowned the ACC Championship game MVP.
At Orange Bowl media day earlier this week, the Tigers quarterback said that he never thought that he would get the chance to start this season, especially in a big game. He said that he continued to work hard throughout the season and trusted his head coach to make the right decision.
“No, I don’t think I saw this coming. But at the same time, I wasn’t in control. I just kind of kept my head down and kept working and trusted Coach Swinney and learned every day.”
The Orange Bowl will be his first career start at Clemson University, and it shows that head coach Dabo Swinney and the rest of the staff have confidence in Klubnik. This first start for the true freshman will come against a tough Tennessee Volunteers team that was ranked No. 1 in the country at one point this season.
