What Dabo Swinney, Cade Klubnik said about Clemson football quarterback’s first start

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Football fans got a good look at Clemson’s Cade Klubnik on Friday.

Over and over again.

Seventy-four times, as a matter of fact.

The freshman quarterback logged 74 plays of total offense – combined rushing and passing attempts – in the Tigers’ 31-14 loss against Tennessee in the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium.

His 74 plays were an Orange Bowl record and the fifth-most in Clemson history.

His efforts weren’t always perfect for the Tigers (11-3), but Clemson coach Dabo Swinney liked what he saw out of the 19-year-old in the first starting assignment of his career.

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“What a great opportunity this was for him to be able to go and play and compete,” Swinney said. “He made a lot of great plays, but he also had some mistakes – simple as that.”

Those miscues included taking ill-advised sacks, throwing a pair of interceptions on desperation heaves, taking too many hits on some of his 20 rushing attempts and ultimately a poor decision to take off running in the waning seconds of the first half with no timeouts remaining and the team deep in Tennessee territory.

Instead of running a quick pass play or spiking the ball to set up a field goal attempt, Klubnik wound up getting tackled for a two-yard gain at the Volunteers’ 11-yard line as the first-half clock expired.

So what about Klubnik’s self critique?

Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik (2) looks to pass the ball during the Orange Bowl game between the Tennessee Vols and Clemson Tigers at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla. on Friday, Dec. 30, 2022. Tennessee defeated Clemson 31-14.

“There’s a lot of plays I want back,” Klubnik said. “The name of the game is points and we needed to score touchdowns and we weren’t doing that. There were just a lot of missed opportunities.

“We were driving on them every single drive. But for some reason when we got in the red zone we just couldn’t finish it.”

The effort, both by Klubnik and the offense, stood in stark contrast to their victory against North Carolina in the ACC Championship Game on Dec. 3. Clemson won 39-10 and Klubnik was named the game’s MVP after coming on in relief of a struggling DJ Uiagalelei, who ultimately transferred, and connecting on 20-of-24 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown.

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Klubnik, who had attempted 46 passes through the first nine games in which he played this season, had an Orange Bowl-record 54 attempts against Tennessee (11-2), completing 40 for 320 yards.

He also led the team with 51 rushing yards, including a touchdown, on 20 attempts – the most attempts by a Clemson quarterback since Kelly Bryant had 20 against NC State in 2017.

“It wasn’t really the gameplan coming in, but there were (running) plays to be had,” Klubnik said. “It just kind of happened during the game.”

His effort was far from perfect, but left Swinney feeling optimistic about the Tigers’ future at the position.

“These are all things he’ll learn from,” Swinney said. “But he did a lot of good things, made some big-time throws. You can easily see how talented he is and what a great player he’s going to be. Y’all saw what this kid’s got the ability to do.”

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Cade Klubnik: Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney evaluates first start