Tennessee could have their HANDS FULL vs Cade Klubnik
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Tennessee's Defensive Coordinator had some early week thoughts about Cade Klubnik heading into the Orange Bowl on Friday. Tim Banks had his team go back and watch Klubnik's high school film to prepare.
“Like most of their team, he’s really talented,” Tennessee defensive coordinator Tim Banks said. “He has a strong arm, strong release. He’s played some reps, obviously not the lion’s share-- the other kid (D.J. Uiagalelei) did outside of the North Carolina game. He’s an athlete. We went back and watched his high school film, a tremendous athlete with a strong arm.”
Klubnik's arm strength is there. You could see it with the pass to Cole Turner in the ACC Championship game. Clemson now has a quarterback that likes to test defenses and move around the pocket to make plays with his arm and his legs. Banks and the 86th-ranked defense for Tennessee will have their hands full with Klubnik.
“He’s talented — I can see why he’s there,” Banks said. “I can see why those guys are so high on him. We’re going to have our hands full, but we’ve obviously played a ton of talented quarterbacks within this league. He’s just the next guy up.”
So, how did Tennessee perform against Power 5 quarterbacks?
Game | Quarterback | Passing | Yards | TD | Int. |
@ Pitt | Slovis & Patti (Combined) | 23-44 | 274 | 2 | 1 |
vs. Florida | Anthony Richardson | 24-44 | 453 | 2 | 1 |
@ LSU | Jayden Daniels* | 32-45 | 300 | 1 | 1 |
vs. Alabama | Bryce Young* | 35-52 | 455 | 2 | 0 |
vs. Kentucky | Will Levis | 16-27 | 98 | 0 | 3 |
@ Georgia | Stetson Bennett* | 17-25 | 257 | 2 | 0 |
vs. Missouri | Brady Cook | 20-33 | 221 | 3 | 0 |
@ South Carolina | Spencer Rattler* | 30-37 | 438 | 6 | 0 |
vs. Vanderbilt | Swann & Wright (Combined) | 18-30 | 107 | 0 | 0 |
In the SEC, the Volunteers faced four of the Top 5 quarterbacks*, and each of those players had plenty of success passing the ball against Tennessee. Statistically speaking, those four quarterbacks all outperformed Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker head-to-head.
Minus Hooker, who’s out with a season-ending knee injury, Klubnik will get a chance to best Joe Milton III who went 11-21 for 147 yards and one touchdown against Vanderbilt in his only start of the season.
Can the Tigers’ freshman quarterback continue his success from the ACC Championship game vs. North Carolina in the Captial One Orange Bowl? Tune in at 8:00 PM on December 30th on ESPN to find out!
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The Morgan Thomas Show with Morgan, Big Al, and Houston is a weekly live Clemson sports talk show on YouTube, and 105.5FM The Roar. The guys give you their authentic opinions on the week’s biggest Clemson sports news, in-depth game analysis, player grades, and picks against the spread.