Cade Klubnik, the true freshman wunderkind from Austin, Texas has received nothing but positive reviews in his first few spring practices as a college football player as a Clemson Tiger.
If history is any indication, though, D.J. Uiagalelei will jog out on the field Labor Day night in Atlanta as Clemson’s starting quarterback.
If Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence couldn’t overcome incumbents, I’m not sure how Klubnik will.
Watson and Lawrence both had to show it on the field. In a game.
What’s that old saying? Quarterbacks get too much praise when you win and too much blame when you lose.
It applies here, as I don’t believe Clemson’s 2021 struggles should be laid solely at the feet of Uiagalelei and that there was plenty of blame to go around.
The offensive line was beset by injuries and played poorly to terrible for most of the season. The wide receivers (and running backs) dropped catchable passes and struggled to stay on the field, penalties were killer and the play-calling was unimaginative.
You name it and it went wrong for the Tigers offense.
If Uiagalelei trots out there first at the beginning of the season, I’m not sure Uiagalelei I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing, given the early schedule and three games in 12 days.
Yet, there’s a solid percentage of Clemson fans that want a change before they’re ever seen Klubnik play a down or throw a collegiate pass.
Living in the Austin, Texas area I may have a little more insight into Klubnik and what we can expect as Westlake’s games were on TV every Friday night (yes, TV) and I saw more than a handful of Klubnik leading his team to everything from blowouts, to comebacks, to miracle wins.
While there are many good high school football programs in the states of South Carolina and Georgia, Westlake High School football is one of the nation’s best and the pedigree that Klubnik comes from is unmatched.
Westlake has produced two Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks in Drew Brees and Nick Foles, not to mention Sam Ehlinger from Texas and a host of other Division I signal callers and players.
They also compete, and win, at the highest level of Texas High School football.
Klubink was literally the best of the best in Texas High School football, which is saying something.
There’s very little doubt Klubnik will be good.
Of course, there was also very little doubt that Uiagalelei was going to be the next great quarterback at Clemson, that is until Georgia punched the Tigers in the face.
The things that need to have happened at this point have happened: Klubnik is on campus early, practicing and putting weight on his slight frame. He’s drawing praise from the coaches and saying the right things.
All good signs.
That said, let’s not put the cart before the horse.
Let’s see what happens in the spring game and go from there, but even that might not make any difference.
If history tells us anything, it’s that number 5 will take the first offensive snaps on September 5.