Dabo Swinney: Cade Klubnik has been 'really good outside of about five plays'

Cade Klubnik is two games into his first season as Clemson’s starting quarterback. While it has come with some lows early on, Dabo Swinney also recognizes the high-level play from him at times as well as the teachable moments that he’s picking things up from to start the year.

Swinney evaluated Klubnik’s start to the campaign during his press conference on Tuesday. Besides a handful of plays, he’s very pleased with Klubnik and his efficiency as their QB1. The matter at hand now is learning from his early mistakes and using them to ensure that those errors don’t happen again.

“(Cade’s) been really good outside of about five plays, really good,” Swinney said. “Those five plays have been bad. He’s been really, really good. I mean we were at 80% completion the other day on 40-something passes with all the quarterbacks. He was 67-68% or whatever. He’s been really good, really, really good.

“(Cade’s) got a great understanding. He’s just had a couple of plays that he wishes he could get back. But you don’t get them back so they’re just good learning, teaching opportunities for a young starter,” Swinney continued. “He’s just going to get better and better and better.”

Swinney added that the issues aren’t something that Klubnik can learn in the film room or the practice field, especially since he already excels in those areas. For him to grow, he says he’ll just need to keep playing on Saturdays in order to get his necessary lessons.

“(Cade’s) just got to play. He can sit in there in the film room all day and he’s got every answer. He’s a natural. I mean he gets it on every level. But he’s just got to go play,” said Swinney. “You can go practice and get it too. But it’s another thing when you get out there and it’s game situations and game-time decisions.”

Klubnik is 55-of-80 passing (68.8%) for Clemson through their opening loss at Duke and their home win over Charleston Southern this past weekend. Those have led to 524 passing yards, five touchdowns, and a pair of interceptions with much of it coming in the Tiger’s 49-point win over the Buccaneers.

Swinney is hoping that the critical mistakes eventually fade away from Klubnik’s game as his season and career continue. Beyond that, though, Swinney is fully behind him as he continues to learn the game at the collegiate level.

“He’s been really, really good. I mean he has made a couple of plays in the first two games that, again, hopefully he’ll never make for the rest of his career,” said Swinney. “Those are just very teachable opportunities that you learn from playing the game as a young player. He’ll use it as that.”