Clemson Football: Clutch Klubnik no surprise to me

There are a few perks that go along with being a Clemson football fan living in Texas.

For one, night games start (and finish) an hour earlier.  Nooners?  They’re at 11 a.m. my time and that’s just about perfect for me.

One other perk is an unexpected one and perhaps unique to this “cycle”.  While those in the Upstate of South Carolina and Georgia get to see a lot of Clemson recruits play high school ball, I rarely do, but there’s one exception: Cade Klubnik.

Klubnik, like Drew Brees and Nick Foles went to Westlake High School in the Austin area and most of their games were on local television in one form or another.

I marveled as his team bashed every team in their wake and the skinny quarterback did amazing things, never imagining he’d end up at Clemson.

I mean, sure, he’s the type of kid that Dabo would recruit, but his high school stadium is about 7 miles from Darrell K. Royal Stadium in downtown Austin.  Not only that, but his parents went to Texas A&M.

Thank you Steve Sarkisian and Jimbo Fisher.

I had watched the 2020 Westlake team led by Klubnik outscore their opponents by an unbelievable 737-106 margin going 14-0, winning the State Championship by blasting Quinn Ewers Southlake Carrol team 52-34.

Before that final though, Westlake played perennial power North Shore and for the first time all season the Chapparals trailed, 21-17 with 3 minutes to go in the game.

Would Klubnik wilt? Nope, he led his team on a game-winning drive that included a 45-yard bomb that set up Klubnik’s game-winning touchdown run with under 2 minutes left.

The kid is clutch.

Imagine my surprise when he announced a commitment to Clemson.

His Clemson statistics are modest to date and at times he’s certainly looked like a true freshman and he has miles to go before he becomes a polished college quarterback.

Cade Klubnik led Clemson football back from the brink against Syracuse and that’s no surprise to me

But Klubnik’s a leader and a winner, he proved that in the highest level of Texas High School football and he proved it again against Syracuse on Saturday.

I’m not expecting him to go undefeated as a starter at Clemson like he did at Westlake, a good portion of that is out of his control.

Saturday was great experience for Klubnik, not just snaps in a game to get reps like most of his other appearances.

Clemson’s playoff chances were on the line in a game in which they were favored by 13.5 points.

Klubnik handled it just the way I expected him to handle it.  The way I saw him do it for two years at Westlake, only on a bigger stage.

Like a winner.