Clemson football: 4-star QB Cade Klubnik wanted to be a Tiger all along

4-star QB Cade Klubnik wanted to be a part of Clemson football all along

The Clemson football program received its highest-rated commitment of the 2022 recruiting class Tuesday evening when 4-star QB Cade Klubnik announced his decision.

Klubnik had been in close contact with members of the Clemson football coaching staff over the last few months, but the Tigers held off on making him a formal offer until 5-star QB Ty Simpson- who ultimately chose Alabama- made his decision.

Klubnik was patient and continued to revere Clemson as one of his top choices, even before the Tigers had made the official offer.

The 4-star QB showed out in the Texas Class 6A state championship game where he outdueled 5-star QB Quinn Ewers (an Ohio State commit), who is rated as the No. 1 player in the country. As a result, Klubnik vaulted up recruiting boards and is now considered the No. 74 player in the nation and the No. 5 pro-style QB, according to the 247 Sports’ Composite Player Rankings.

Even with many programs in hot pursuit with standing offers, Klubnik remained ‘All-In’ on Clemson football

Klubnik made it clear before Clemson had offered- despite holding nearly 30 Power-5 offers- that he hadn’t made a top-five and was still weighing all of his options.

Reading between the lines? He was waiting on that offer from Clemson football.

When Dabo Swinney formally reached out to give him the offer last Friday, it took Klubnik a total of four days before he came back with a commitment.

Why? He wanted to be a Tiger all alone.

If you followed Klubnik’s recruitment and the things that he said publicly, you can see a very clear picture that he wanted to be a part of what’s going on in Clemson. He was drawn to the Tigers’ coaching staff and was All-In for quite a while well before Clemson had even offered him.

There’s something to be said about that.

The last player we can think of to have to wait on a scholarship offer who had already been ‘All-In’ well before is current LB Trenton Simpson. Simpson, who was rated as a 5-star, held off on committing and wasn’t offered until late in the process- much later than Klubnik, in all actuality- but he still held out to become a Tiger.

Though we haven’t seen the end result with Simpson yet, everything we’ve been able to gather on him so far shows a guy who has a bright future and who could potentially emerge as a first-round draft pick. He’s willing to put in more work because he wants to be here and that ‘love of Clemson’ is something that just can’t be understated.

The same exact thing can be said for Cade Klubnik as he becomes a part of this Clemson football program.