Swinney Calls Klubnik ‘Special Talent,’ Also Says One Game Doesn’t Make a Career

Cade Klubnik certainly looked the part of the next great quarterback in Clemson’s ACC Championship win over North Carolina.

The former 5-star shredded the Tar Heels secondary, hitting on 20-of-24 pass attempts in the 39-10 win.

However, as great as he looked, head coach Dabo Swinney reminded fans after that it was still one game and that Klubnik still has some work to do.

“Well one game doesn’t make a career, he’s got a long way to go and a lot of consistency ahead to kind of be there,” Swinney said. “We recruited him with certainly high expectations and he’s coming in here he’s never lost a game as a starter, he won three state championships in high school, and now he’s come in here as a freshman and got MVP of his first championship game.”

“So he’s a special talent and we knew that,” Swinney said. “We also knew he needed to develop some and he’s really put the work in. He’s worked on his body, he’s not quite 200 (pounds) but he’s right there and he’s really grasped things from an offensive standpoint. But I think he certainly has all the capability and all the tools to really be a great one and that’s what we felt like him coming into this program.”

With DJ Uiagalelei now in the transfer portal this is Klubnik’s team moving forward, and Swinney is looking forward to what he oes with his next opportunity in the Orange Bowl against Tennessee.

“And sometimes you can put a guy out there too early, but it’s got to be a situation where a guy earns it and it happens when it happens, and tonight it kind of turned and he took it and ran with it. So again, he’s got to keep it going, soon as he has a bad game and get the next guy in here everybody will want that backup to come on in. So he’s got a ways to go but it’s a great start for him for sure, huge confidence boost and I love our young guys that we got.”