It may be a tough pill to swallow, but the next quarterback to lead the Clemson football program to a National Championship isn’t on the 2021 roster.
Coming into the 2021 season, there was a sense from Clemson football fans that the Tigers wouldn’t see a drop-off at the quarterback position with D.J. Uiagalelei taking over in the place of former No. 1 overall pick Trevor Lawrence.
The Clemson coaches said as much in the preseason and they talked continuously about the elite arm strength of Uiagalelei and how they believed this could be a much-improved offense compared to last season. Unfortunately, that hasn’t transpired in any way, shape or form.
After another mediocre outing that was capped by him throwing a shovel pass straight to a Pittsburgh defensive lineman for a pick-six, Uiagalelei was benched.
But, while the offense looked a little more competent with Taisun Phommachanh in a quarterback, the truth of the matter is that he didn’t show anything close to being an elite option moving forward past this season.
The next great Tiger quarterback won’t wear a Clemson football uniform in 2021
There’s always hope that Uiagalelei somehow figures it out and he puts it all together, but the more we think about what we’ve seen from him and how he’s played, we’ve come to the conclusion that the next great QB for Clemson isn’t on the roster.
The next great quarterback who will have an opportunity to lead Clemson back to prominence is 5-star commit Cade Klubnik.
Klubnik has shown elite accuracy and an ability to scramble and extend plays with his legs. He doesn’t back down from any challenge and he has shown excellent leadership skills. .That tells us he’s not by any means looking to come in January and sit the bench.
We would love to be wrong and see Uiagalelei put it all together, but it’s looking more and more likely that Klubnik is the next quarterback who can get Clemson back to the CFB Playoff and achieve greatness.