Despite head coach Dabo Swinney’s continued dismissal of the NCAA’s transfer portal, the Clemson Tigers have built one of the most talented and complete rosters in all of college football heading into the 2025 season. The metaphorical head of the snake for Swinney’s squad is quarterback Cade Klubnik, who four years ago stunned everyone in the state of Texas, opting to leave his home state to play at Clemson, which under Swinney can go ahead and claim the title of ‘Quarterback-U.’
“Clemson’s biggest moments have come from some elite-level quarterbacks making the play to lead the way,” writes Ginny Duffy of Sports Illustrated. “Becoming Clemson’s winningest coach of all time, Swinney puts a strong emphasis on player relationships, tradition, and culture. Players come to Clemson not just to win games, but to be coached by Swinney himself.”
This holds true for Klubnik, who on multiple occasions has stated that the presence of Dabo Swinney was the primary reason for why he ultimately chose Clemson over Lone Star State powerhouses such as Texas and Texas A&M. Now, as Klubnik enters his fourth season playing under Swinney, he has a chance to stake his own claim as the program’s greatest quarterback.
Let’s start here: Entering the 2025 season, Klubnik ranks fifth in Clemson history in passing yards and fourth in touchdowns. Assuming he matches last season’s production (3,639 yards and 36 passing touchdowns), he would end the 2025 season trailing only Tajh Boyd (in both career passing yards and passing touchdowns.
Now respectfully, what sets quarterbacks such as Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence apart from the record-setting Boyd is the hardware. Both Watson and Lawrence can boast having won a National Championship during their respective runs at Clemson. In fact, both players quarterbacked the Tigers to the title game twice, having split their two appearances. Boyd never won a National Title, but he did lead the Tigers to an Orange Bowl victory in 2014 in what was not only his final game at Clemson, but also his best.
Klubnik doesn’t have the luxury of potentially leading Clemson to a win in a high-profile BCS bowl like Boyd did. In 2025, it’s National Championship or bust for a Clemson program that has rivaled Alabama and Georgia as the most dominant in college football for the last fifteen years. But assuming the Tigers can get the job done – and given the amount of talent that is coming back from last year’s ACC Championship winning squad, it’s not far-fetched – we’d have to think really hard about where Klubnik ranks among the likes of Boyd, Watson and Lawrence.
There’s a world where Klubnik heads to the NFL Draft and is selected first overall following a collegiate career highlighted by three ACC Titles, a Heisman Trophy and a National Championship. And if that is the case, we’ll need to widen our scope and evaluate where Klubnik ranks among all collegiate quarterbacks, not just his predecessors who paved the way at the newfound Quarterback-U.
Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp