Cade Klubnik details how special Week 1 moment connects with first Clemson memory

Former five-star recruit Cade Klubnik started his Clemson career with a bang on Monday, throwing a touchdown pass to Will Taylor late in the fourth quarter after the Tigers opened up a sizeable lead over Georgia Tech.

Scoring the first touchdown of what promises to be a big career is a special moment on its own, but who the ball went to and the play call’s connection to a legendary moment for Clemson football made it even more unique in the mind of Cade Klubnik.

“Here I am today and I just scored my first touchdown with Will, but I think the coolest part about that is I saw the play and I was like, ‘that’s pretty cool, that’s the same play.’ And then we end up running it. And of course it was Will, because it was my best friend,” said Klubnik.

“So that was super fun that I got to experience that with him. It was his first touchdown also so that was awesome for him because he’s been working his butt off since he got back and he’s going to be a really good player here. That was an awesome experience and just super fun.”

On Klubnik’s 10-play drive near the end of the game he threw for an efficient 4-6 passing for 49 yards and the touchdown. The special play call which led to a touchdown came straight out of the 2016 national championship game when Deshaun Watson connected with Hunter Renfrow to help defeat Alabama.

Cade Klubnik on early Clemson memories

While recalling his earliest memories of Clemson, the Texas native made it clear that while he was not always familiar with the program, it made a big first impression. The Dabo Swinney teams of the 2010’s helped pave the way for a kid across the country to grow up dreaming of becoming a Tiger.

“I would say the first time that they got to the playoffs, that really caught my radar. Austin is 17 hours away from here so it wasn’t really right down the road. But I would say that definitely put them on the radar for me.

“I remember a year before I committed here, my mom was like ‘if you could go anywhere, where would you want to go?’ and I was like, ‘Clemson.’ But that was the biggest stretch in the world for me, because I didn’t think that could really happen. All I’d done was play three games as a sophomore.”