Cade Klubnik had himself a career year with Clemson football in 2024 that probably should have led to more national recognition and personal accolades.
The junior quarterback threw for a career-best 3,639 yards and 36 touchdowns while completing just over 63 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 463 yards and seven touchdowns which were also career-highs. In total, he accounted for 4,102 yards and 43 touchdowns with less than seven turnovers.
Those numbers put him in an exclusive club and he's one of only eight quarterbacks to achieve a stat line like that and seven of them were at the very least Heisman finalists.
Klubnik was the only one who didn't even finish in the top five of Heisman voting.
Looking back at last season, Klubnik was often overlooked and if you told the casual college football fan that he was having a Heisman-caliber season, they would've just laughed at you because they probably didn't hear much about how well he was playing. He received next to no national attention despite leading Clemson to the playoff with over 4,100 total yards.
Look at the names on the list that he's in the company of. Joe Burrow, Baker Mayfield, Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Marcus Mariota, CJ Stroud, and Bo Nix. All of those guys have since made it to the league and have experienced some sort of success in the NFL.
Klubnik is next.
But the lack of national recognition for such a rare 2024 season by Klubnik was criminal and I don't think Clemson fans will forgive the media or Heisman Trophy voters for it.
Should he have won the Heisman? No. Did he deserve to be mentioned as a finalist? Without a doubt.
The 2025 season is going to be personal for Cade.