Sapakoff: 1 start in, Klubnik handles an ACC Football Kickoff blitz

CHARLOTTE — Cade Klubnik shuffled his feet and swayed more than any other official attendee on the ACC Kickoff main stage.
He shifted his weight a lot while answering questions from the assembled media in a massive Westin Charlotte ballroom.
But the energetic Texan — and everyone else in the Tigers’ ACC Kickoff traveling party on Thursday — swears it’s a different Klubnik than the apparently rattled quarterback that struggled in his first college start, a 31-14 Orange Bowl loss to Tennessee.
It’s not just the obvious added muscle.
Klubnik (6-2, 195) has successfully become less excitable. And generally smarter.
He emphasized a pair of words: “Calming down.”
Perfect, and exactly what many Clemson fans will enjoy hearing from a talented player who took North Carolina by surprise after coming off the bench in a 39-10 ACC Championship Game victory and didn’t fare as well when Tennessee had a month to prepare.
It’s what might make the difference between Clemson getting back in the College Football Playoff and barely missing out, as the 11-3 Tigers did in 2022.
Basically, it’s the extended maturation of a self-described “natural leader” who as the youngest of four children “had to fight for everything as a kid.”
Oh, sweet patience.
As in …
Not rushing pre-snap and post-snap reads.
Trusting the offensive line.
“Patience,” Klubnik said.
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A lot has happened in the Clemson quarterback room since the team buses pulled up at Charlotte’s Bank of America Stadium for the ACC Championship Game last December.
Klubnik won the game’s MVP award and the starting job.
Former starter D.J. Uiagalelei hit the transfer portal (and ended up at Oregon State).
Orange Bowl adversity (30 of 54 for 320 yards with two interceptions and no touchdown passes).
Offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter was fired.
Hotshot TCU strategist Garrett Riley was hired.
Mostly, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said Thursday, Klubnik “now knows what he didn’t know.”
Clemson center Will Putnam, also in Charlotte for ACC Kickoff, put it this way: “We’ve only seen the freshman year of Cade Klubnik. It only gets better. Stepping into a few games at the end of last year was one thing; this year it’s just different. He understands from game-time experience and that’s something you can’t replicate in practice.”
Klubnik, Putnam said, is “much more comfortable being uncomfortable.”
That’s the residue of hard study with Riley, extra time in the film room, workouts with Clemson’s receivers and a few days in California throwing with quarterback whisperer Jordan Palmer.
Klubnik, in preparation for the start of preseason practice next week, plans to lean on Will Shipley and Phil Mafah thinking that “two of the best running backs in the country will open up the big shots.”
Alas, he’s still only 20.
Meaning prone to clichés, such as, “I’m taking it one day at a time.”
“You always say that,” a television reporter reminded Klubnik.
He grinned.
“I know. I know I do,” the 20-year-old Marketing major said. “But you just can’t look forward. Like someone asked me about playing Florida State, but we’re focused on the first day of fall camp.”
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Life with Riley adds to such emphasis. The two Texans — Klubnik from the bustling hipster village of Austin and Riley from the West Texas outpost of Muleshoe — hit it off immediately.
“At first we talked brisket,” Klubnik said, “and then we started talking football right after.”
Another 2023 plus for Klubnik: Chad Morris, another Texan.
The former Clemson offensive coordinator (2011-2014) and SMU and Arkansas head coach is coming back to campus as a staff analyst. The 54-year-old Morris will help Clemson scout opponents a week ahead on the schedule.
Coaches are only part of it. Self-motivation started with the Orange Bowl loss.
“That game is going to push us to the places we want to be this year,” Klubnik said. “It’s putting a little bit of a bad feeling in our stomach all year.”
It’s not typical for a player with an 0-1 record as a college starter to come to a major conference preseason media gathering. But Swinney, as usual, picked a pair of seniors (Putnam and defensive tackle Tyler Davis) to attend the ACC Kickoff and the ACC got the third Clemson player pick, opting for the quarterback.
“A huge honor,” Klubnik said.
The kid fared well, looking as comfortable being uncomfortable on stage as he has looked at recent Clemson football workouts.
Follow Gene Sapakoff on Twitter @sapakoff