Why Garrett Riley believes Cade Klubnik is a great fit for his offense

New Clemson offensive coordinator Garrett Riley is well aware of what Tigers starting quarterback Cade Klubnik brings to an offense.

Prior to coming to Clemson this offseason, Riley was an offensive coordinator in Texas — first at SMU for two seasons and last year at TCU.

He has watched Klubnik on film and in person and feels that he knows his game well. Both SMU and TCU offered Klubnik a scholarship, but he ultimately committed to Clemson.

“He was one of the first people I saw when I got here. Kind of joked with him. I recruited Cade for about the last three years before he came to Clemson,” Riley recalled. “I said, ‘Well, I didn’t know I had to come to South Carolina to coach you.’”

There’s a reason Riley recruited Klubnik at each of his previous two stops. He believes the rising sophomore fits well in his system.

Klubnik is a dual threat quarterback who doesn’t have the strongest arm but is accurate and can also beat teams with his legs.

Riley saw that throughout Klubnik’s high school career as he helped Westlake High to three consecutive state titles.

“He’s certainly a great player, know a lot about him. Certainly a lot of history seeing him through his high school career at Westlake,” Riley said. “He’s certainly a great piece to work with. Feel like I know the kid. I know what his strengths are. His skillset and his demeanor and his intangibles, I think, are going to fit very well with what we do.”

Klubnik completed 61 percent of his passes as a freshman for the Tigers, throwing for 697 yards, with two touchdowns and three interceptions. He also rushed for 139 yards and two scores.

He doesn’t have the biggest arm, but he can make all the throws and is accurate, which is what Riley needs from his QB.

Making quicker decisions is an area where Klubnik needs to improve, and he should do that in Riley’s offense, which is more simple than what Clemson ran last year.

“You just want consistent quarterback play. If you can make it simple for them and they can make routine decisions at a high rate, most of the time they’re probably going to make routine plays,” Riley said. “I think it kind of starts there. I think with his background, the way he’s been coached, coming from a winning culture in high school and growing up, I mean just all those things are right there for him.”

Klubnik took over as Clemson’s starting quarterback for the Orange Bowl to end last season, after excelling in the ACC Championship game.

The former five-star recruits needs to work on his consistency still, but he has all of the attributes to excel for the Tigers.

“That’s what’s going to be exciting to kind of work through those things with him with this system and putting him in those positions to allow his playmakers to make plays. We’re Clemson. He’s going to have people around him. He’s going to have a supporting cast,” Riley said. “All of these quarterbacks are. I think that’s what’s exciting is you’re going to allow those guys to distribute the football and let those guys make plays.”