Cade Klubnik, QB, Clemson
Size:
Height: 6’2” | Weight: 205 lbs
Accomplishments:
USA Today Offensive Player of the Year (2021, 2020) • Texas Gatorade Player of the Year (2021)
“Cade Klubnik is a young quarterback prospect who possesses the good athletic and physical tools to be an exciting developmental signal-caller.”
Strengths:
Good arm talent/strength
Plus mobility/athleticism
Developmental upside
Throwing mechanics
Concerns:
Poor decision-making under pressure
Take unnecessary chances (hero-ball mentality)
Trusting his progressions
Inconsistent ball placement
Film Analysis:
Cade Klubnik plays in Garrett Riley’s Air-Raid offense for Clemson, where he handles full-field reads out of the shotgun with spread passing concepts. He showcased good arm talent to drive throws and push the ball down the field. This offense allows Klubnik to utilize his plus-level mobility from his track and field background to convert third downs with a few designed run calls off the QB zone read. As a highly-touted recruit, Klubnik has one season as a starter but did not live up to his high school recruiting hype.
Klubnik throws with good velocity when targeting the ball in the short-to-intermediate areas of the defense. He does a good job attacking and putting the ball between the hashes. He has the arm talent to drive the ball on out-breaking routes confidently. There are flashes of high-caliber, precise passes into tight defensive windows. Klubnik is at his best in rhythm reading the defense and ripping throws into vulnerable spots in the coverage.
His throwing mechanics are fairly sound and efficient—allowing for full optimization of his arm talents. Klubnik showcased flashes of being a multi-speed pitcher, due to his ability to vary velocity and touch on throws. His touch throws are effective and efficient at layering the ball over the heads of middle-of-the-field defenders. On deep throws outside of the numbers, Klubnik throws with good touch and arc to give his receiver a chance to make a big play. One of his best throws is the back-shoulder fade—the touch and placement create advantageous targets for his receiver to stop and make a play on the ball.
Klubnik is a plus-athlete with good open-field speed once he breaks loose from contain. He is more than functional enough to handle zone-read concepts and a few other QB-designed runs while also being an off-schedule playmaker with his legs. He can fire throws rolling to either his left or right accurately. Klubnik’s athletic ability will force defenses to remain disciplined in their assignments and play honestly inside the red zone.
Taking unnecessary chances plagued Klubnik last season—he put the ball into harm's way a handful of times per game. He exudes a “hero ball” mentality, where he tries to make the big, game-changing play and misses easy check-down reads. Klubnik must limit his reckless abandon with the football and adopt a more controlled and calculated approach to being an aggressive passer. Despite his athletic ability, Klubnik struggles under pressure by throwing “YOLO” balls and turnover-worthy passes. Protecting the football will be a huge part of his development in 2024. Accuracy and ball placement are inconsistent and dwindle during games. These areas of his game must improve to maximize his talented skill set.
Klubnik tends to place passes right on the receiver instead of leading them away from the coverage—or passes fall behind his target. Klubnik is best described as a “see it, throw it” passer. If he does not see the receiver breaking open, he will not rip the throw, causing him to be late, with opportunities for a late pass rush to leak into the backfield. He does not trust what he sees and begins to double-clutch the football. Klubnik lacks consistent anticipation to throw receivers open before they break out of their route. He must speed up his processing of defensive coverages to play on time as the offensive route concepts are designed. Klubnik has plenty of room to grow into the draft prospect college recruiters expected him to be.
Klubnik projects as a developmental mid-round quarterback at this time. While he has an enticing set of skills and tools, his inconsistency last season was rough. He has an opportunity to right those wrongs in 2024 and elevate in a wide-open 2025 NFL QB draft class. Klubnik’s combination of arm talent, athletic ability, and play-making mindset is enough to have the NFL scouts’ attention this fall.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 – Adequate Starter
