CHARLOTTE- On Thursday, at the ACC Kickoff we were able to meet with the sophomore quarterback for Clemson, Cade Klubnik. This off season we have all heard about how exciting this hire is for Clemson, bringing in Garrett Riley. Everyone is excited and anxious to see what this offense will look like and how far improved they will be from the past two years. Someone asked how they have attacked the offseason with a lot of national pundits picking against the Tigers and suggesting that maybe their time is up…“A lot of silent work, a lot of work that nobody has seen but it’s going to show up.” Cade said that he was about 192 lbs when he played in the Orange Bowl, about 204 lbs right now, and hopes to be about 206 lbs for the season.
We asked Cade Klubnik if he had to use one word to describe this offense what would it be… his answer? EXPLOSIVE. We have heard from multiple players this offseason how they feel that Riley is very confident in them and is really going to rely on them to make plays in open space.
“I think it starts with the fact that he trusts us to go and make the plays but he is giving us the opportunity to go out and make these plays. He has great schemes and creates great opportunities for us to get our playmakers the ball in space and we are just super excited for that. The wide receivers we have in our room… it’s fun, it makes it so fun for me. You know obviously, we have the front four with Antonio Williams, Jake Briningstool, and Adam Randall, who is going to be special, people aren’t ready for what he is going to do. And Beaux Collins who has shown a little bit of what he can do and he’s gonna have a big year”.
Cade talked a little bit about what the fans can expect from this offense this season.
Klubnik also went on to talk about some of the backup receivers and how big of a season this wide receiver group is going to have.
When Cade started to talk about Adam Randall his face lit up and he was really excited to talk about how special of a playmaker he is, but the other name that got a big rise out of Cade was his tight end Jake Briningstool. The tight end position will once again be a position that gets a lot of targets and looks in this offense. Klubnik said that Jake Briningstool is going to have a big year and he is just a massive mismatch for opposing defenses.
“I think he is very similar to a Kyle Pitts type of guy, he’s not 255-260 lbs but he is a guy that is a physical guy who can get in there and block some guys. He is a great route runner and he has great hands. He knows ball and played wide receiver in high school so he can do both. We could line him up in the slot or bring him in the box and he will be fine either way.”
Cade Klubnik speaking about Jake Briningstool
Klubnik also added that he believes, Clemson has the best two running backs in the country in Will Shipley and Phil Mafah.
Something else that will make the fans excited to hear is how much this offense has gotten together this summer and how much of an emphasis they put on growing the chemistry between everyone on the offensive side of the ball. Cade went on to say that they would get some offensive linemen and wide receivers together a few times a week to just get some extra work in on top of any player-led full team activities they were doing.
From talking with Cade Klubnik and Will Putnam these guys seem to have a good bit of confidence about this offense heading into fall camp. They will still have a good bit of practice left before they suit up against Duke on Labor Day Night. As far as what to expect from the offense this year… like Cade said, explosiveness. This offense has the opportunity to be extremely explosive and a lot of fun to watch.
