Cade Klubnik Hopes to Leave 'No Regrets' Regarding Clemson Tigers Legacy

In a changing college football landscape, it’s tough to keep players for four seasons, especially with the talent level that the Clemson Tigers have. However, quarterback Cade Klubnik kept the traditional way.

Klubnik has always loved Clemson, saying he wanted to play for head coach Dabo Swinney over the course of his recruitment. After speaking for the final time at the Smart Family Media Center for media availability, he detailed the legacy he wants to leave in the Upstate of South Carolina.

It’s not the plays on the field that he wants to be remembered most for; it’s the day-to-day things that he had with others that he wishes people would remember.

“I hope that any encounter that I ever had with anybody here, that, you know, they just remembered the person that I was,” Klubnik said on Wednesday, “and I hope that it was a great encounter and that hopefully they saw Jesus through me.”

The Austin, Texas, native has two ACC Championships under his belt in his Tiger tenure, including being the Most Valuable Player in both of the wins in 2022 and 2024. He’s one of four Clemson players to record over 10,000 total yards over the course of his career, also winning 25 games total, which is only the sixth quarterback to do so since World War II.

It goes into the legacy that Klubnik wants to leave after Clemson’s Pinstripe Bowl game to close out the 2025 season. It’s a story of “no regrets”, as he puts it.

“I think that’s something that I would love to try to live after, but nobody’s perfect,” Klubnik said. “But, yeah, I think that just the person that I was and, yeah, just the way that I went about these four years, and just I hope that the people in this building knew just everything that I’ve given.”

The third-year starter would love to leave his team with momentum going into the offseason, with a win against the Penn State Nittany Lions on Dec. 27 being the catalyst that could spark a run like that of Klubnik’s junior season. That created a College Football Playoff appearance, and he would love to bring that same energy going into the spring and summer.

“That’s what I’m continually fighting for and really want to, you know, strain to get that finish for those guys really coming back,” he said, “but also just finish well in my career and the guys that are done after this one.”

Overall, Klubnik thanks everybody involved in his time with Clemson, and with the NFL Draft awaiting the young hopeful, he will take plenty of lessons from his time with Swinney and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley.

“Definitely just so thankful for so many people around here that got me through these last four years, definitely academically and everything, and we’ve got such a great staff that just does a great job with everything,” Klubnik said.