Clemson football: Things to keep an eye on as camp opens

Cade Klubnik’s progress

Coach Swinney made it clear following spring practices that DJ Uiagalelei is Clemson’s starting quarterback going into the fall. Swinney reiterated his support for DJU during media days:

"“This dude [Uiagalelei] is a freak. People talk about him like he is some slapd— from Eastaboga Community College. This guy can play the game at the highest level. … He wasn’t great last year. He was awesome as a freshman. He was awesome his whole career in high school. He is a winner. … He is better because of what he went through.”"

(As a side note, I recently drove by Eastaboga, Alabama and can confirm it is a real place.)

While some fans aren’t thrilled with Swinney’s support of Uiagalelei, most observers have concluded that freshman Cade Klubnik isn’t likely to overtake DJU on the depth chart during camp.

That doesn’t mean that Klubnik will be an afterthought on the field. Since he is the most likely candidate to be the second string quarterback, we can expect him to get plenty of reps. Now the questions becomes: will Klubnik perform well enough in practice to earn playing time in the regular season?

We’ve seen the heralded freshman quarterback before. We’ve seen it twice in fact. Two names you know very well: Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence. As great as both of them were, neither beat out the guy ahead of them on the depth chart in fall camp. What they did do in fall camp was impress Swinney and the offensive staff enough that they concluded the freshmen deserved to play at the beginning of the season, even if they didn’t start. Cole Stoudt and Kelly Bryant would start and play the first couple series, but then Watson and Lawrence, respectively, would get their chance. They both won the starting jobs during the regular season in real games.

If Klubnik wants a chance to win the starting job from DJU, he will have to earn that chance with his play in practice this August. I don’t expect to hear negative things about DJU in fall camp, but I do expect to hear enough positive things about Klubnik for him to earn playing time.