Dabo Swinney on Cade Klubnik's development: He has 'purple jersey syndrome'

Dabo Swinney was impressed with the performance of quarterback Cade Klubnik throughout Clemson‘s spring practice period. However, there’s one thing Swinney believes Klubnik needs to lose — his purple jersey syndrome.

Also known as taking too many sacks, purple jersey syndrome means Klubnik is too comfortable in the pocket, getting hit too often when defenders are allowed to level the quarterback. Moving forward, Swinney wants to see the young quarterback see the pass rush better.

“He did great,” Swinney responded, when asked how Klubnik played. “I thought he did really good. You know, he took too many sacks. He’s got purple jersey syndrome. I told him, I’m going to let him loose a couple times in here. He’ll get a little more sense of urgency when Myles Murphy smashes him a couple times. And there was a couple guys he just didn’t see, because we whiffed on a guy, or whatever. But he took a sack in the red zone on a safety blitz. You know, unblocked guy’s his guy. So, those are things — he’s just going to grow.

“He’s one of the most self-driven kids you’re ever going to be around. So, he just keeps getting better, and he’ll keep learning. But that’s probably the biggest thing — he’s just, you know, he’s so fast. And he’s used to being able to just runaway from everybody. But you don’t run away from Myles Murphy. You don’t run away from Xavier Thomas, and people like that. That’s an adjustment for him. But I mean, he made some great plays. He made some good timing throws. Placed the ball well down here in the red-zone. Great little throw to Hamp [Greene]. Did a really good job, did a really good job.”

Regardless of his purple jersey syndrome, Dabo Swinney was more than impressed with Cade Klubnik as the former five-star quarterback makes his first marks on the program. Still, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things the Tigers coach wants to see improve over the next couple months.

Dabo Swinney addresses Clemson quarterback room

Moreover, sophomore D.J. Uiagalelei and On3 Consensus five-star freshman Cade Klubnik are the two signal-callers that have been competing for the No. 1 spot on the Clemson quarterback depth chart. Dabo Swinney – who’s coached some standout quarterbacks throughout his career – shared his thoughts on his quarterback room heading into summer workouts.

“Oh yeah – I rest real easy on that position,” Swinney said Saturday. “I love the guys that we have there – Billy Wiles and Hunter [Helms], as well. I love all four of those guys. We’ve got Trent Pearman coming in to join the group, Hunter Johnson will be starting here summer one and be out there, as well, so this is as good a room we’ve had at quarterback in a long time once we get everybody here. … In 2018, we won it all and Hunter Renfrow was our third-team quarterback. We had Trevor [Lawrence], Chase Brice – a redshirt freshman – and Hunter Renfrow, and the fourth-team was Will Spiers.

“We’re going to have a lot of functional guys in that room that I know will be ready if we need them, but I’m proud of D.J. He had a good spring and did what he needed to do to give himself some momentum going into summer from a mentality standpoint. Same thing with Cade – a lot to learn to this spring and being able to come out here and get a good foundation.”

Dabo Swinney is rightfully excited about the direction of the Clemson quarterback room. Above-average play is going to be needed from the position for the Tigers to have a resurgent season in 2022.