The narrative surrounding Cade Klubnik heading into the 2024 season was not a positive one. The Tigers had just fallen short of all expectations in 2023, winning less than 10 games for the first time since 2010 and Klubnik had a very ho-hum type of season.
In fact, Klubnik passed for just 2,844 yards and 19 touchdowns with nine picks and a very modest 6.3 yards per attempt and 63 percent completion rate. It was solid, but not great for the former five-star.
Expectations had to be tempered heading into 2024 because it felt like Klubnik was never going to reach his ceiling after taking over for DJ Uiagalelei. He had just 21 touchdowns to 12 interceptions through his first two years at Clemson and it would take a Heisman-caliber season in 2024 for fans to buy back in.
It would take an improvement that PFF had rarely seen before to change the narrative that he was just an above average quarterback and nothing more.
Well, he did just that, passing for over 3,600 yards with 36 touchdowns and just six picks.
That improvement from the 2023 season was the third-largest one-year improvement by a Power Four quarterback on Pro Football Focus since 2018.
Biggest year over year improvements in PFF Pass Grade among Power 4 QBs since 2018. Cade Klubnik is in some impressive company, but he does have another year to go pic.twitter.com/kSPVKUiYa8
— CFBNumbers (@CFBNumbers) June 19, 2025
That may seem like a very cherry-picked stat (it kind of is), but it shows just how much he improved compared to other guys on the list. He jumped 24 (!!) pass grade points from 2023 to 2024 which was a bigger single-season jump than guys like Desmond Ridder, Cam Ward (twice), Kenny Pickett, Joe Burrow, Bo Nix, Jaxson Dart, and Jayden Daniels.
That's some elite company to be in.
Unfortunately, he won't be able to make this list twice like Ward and Pickett did because this is his last season and he already has an 87.7 pass grade, but maybe he can post the best all-time pass grade for a single season in PFF history. That would be nice.