Dabo Swinney on Cade Klubnik's leadership: 'Cade's been the same guy every day'

The Clemson offense didn’t do enough to make top-ranked Georgia sweat in last weekend’s top-15, season-opening matchup in Atlanta. Third-year Tigers quarterback Cade Klubnik, now in his second year as the full-time starter, didn’t go toe-to-toe with Georgia senior quarterback Carson Beck in the 34-3 defeat.

Instead, Klubnik threw for only 142 yards while completing 18-of-29 passes and averaging a mere 4.9 yards per attempt. That said, according to Pro Football Focus, his average depth of target was 10.3 yards. So Klubnik tried to push the ball downfield, he just didn’t connect as often as he needed to, especially on throws traveling 20-plus yards through the air — he was 1-of-5 on those passes, per PFF.

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Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said earlier this week that Klubnik wasn’t the reason the now-No. 25 Tigers lost to the No. 1 Bulldogs. He defended Klubnik’s performance, noting that he thought his quarterback mostly saw the field well against a vaunted Georgia defense.

Then, on Wednesday, Swinney discussed the leadership Klubnik’s provided this week as well as the intensity he continues to bring to the practice field.

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“Cade’s been the same guy every day,” Swinney said. “That’s one of the things that I really like about him. Since January, it doesn’t matter, you would never know the difference in one day to the next. That’s a great step for him, whether you’re coming off a big win, a tough loss or you got an open date.

“I mean he’s come out to practice, he’s really bought into every rep and every practice having a game mindset. Because if you practice that way, you don’t have to do anything different on game day. He’s done a great job and has really stepped up as a leader for us. He was great after the game. Right back at it, right back at it — his spirit, his attitude, his leadership is exactly what you want to see.”

Swinney added: “The whole team is that way, as far as ‘back to work.’ You can’t let one game ruin your season. We got a long way to go. Every week is a great opportunity for us. In college football, every week is opening day.”

Clemson has another “opening day” Saturday night against an often-pesky Appalachian State program.