“He’s just a warrior”: Cade Klubnik guts through quad injury to pilot Clemson past FSU

Clemson’s 24–10 win over Florida State on Saturday night wasn’t just another rivalry victory—turns out it was a testament to Cade Klubnik’s toughness. The senior quarterback finished 20-of-27 passing for 221 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions, good for a 155.1 passer rating, all while playing through what Dabo Swinney called a painful quad injury that left him barely able to walk for most of the week.

“Back-to-back weeks, he’s barely been able to practice. This week, it was a quad,” Swinney said afterward. “He could hardly walk all the way till Thursday. Each day, I’d say, ‘Cade—’ and he’d say, ‘I’ll be ready by Saturday.’ He’s just unbelievably committed. He’s tough as they come, and that kid cares so much.”

Swinney said Klubnik did nothing Monday, hardly anything Tuesday, and only took light reps midweek before moving better on Thursday. Still, when game time came, he delivered one of his most controlled, complete performances of the season. Clemson’s game plan leaned on precision and patience, and Klubnik provided both—his lone touchdown a 34-yard strike to Antonio Williams on a second-quarter flea-flicker that extended the Tigers’ lead to 14–0.

“What a great play by Antonio on the flea flicker,” Swinney said. “That was a heck of a finish on the ball. Great job by Cade to put it up there where he could go up and make a play on it.”

Even with limited mobility, Klubnik made good decisions, avoided mistakes, and handled situational football with the maturity Clemson has been waiting to see. “He’s taking care of the football,” Swinney said. “That’s the other thing—it’s back-to-back weeks we’ve taken care of the ball.”

There were moments when a fully healthy Klubnik might have scrambled for more yards, but Swinney said just having him on the field was “a miracle.” “Yeah, we’d like to have seen him run that,” he said of one red-zone snap. “But it’s a miracle he was even out there running at all.”

Klubnik’s night included an early fourth-down quarterback sneak to keep Clemson’s opening drive alive, despite the banged-up quad.

By the end, Klubnik had done exactly what his coach asked: protect the ball, move the chains, and lead with toughness. Swinney expects the leg to keep improving—“probably by Monday he’ll be even better”—but he didn’t need to see another snap to be convinced of his quarterback’s resilience.

“Cade’s awesome,” Swinney said. “He’s just a warrior. He’s unbelievably committed, tough as they come.”