Cade Klubnik is more than a year removed from his days as one of the nation’s top prep quarterbacks, but Garrett Riley’s offense takes Clemson’s signal caller right back to those Friday nights under the lights in Texas.

“It reminds me of my high school offense,” Klubnik said.

The reason for that is simple, which Klubnik said is also the best way to explain how Clemson’s offense is operating under its first-year coordaintor. Well, second-best.

“It’s just fun,” Klubnik said. “That’s the best way to describe it.”

Klubnik said the biggest difference in Riley’s offense compared to what the Tigers ran under Brandon Streeter a year ago is volume. He recalled going into a game last season with 80 plays on the offensive call sheet. Now, Klubnik said, that number is closer to 30.

And the number the offense focused on during the Tigers’ first spring practice Monday was about half of that.

“We had 15 plays today in our install, and we ran the same 15 plays for two hours,” said Klubnik, who’s going through his first offseason as the full-time starter after taking over that role late during his freshman season.

The idea, Klubnik explained, is to master fewer plays through constant repetition instead of spending time practicing a bunch of plays, some of which may never get called in a game. The offense can give opposing defenses the appearance that appearance that things are more complicated than they seem by running those same plays out of different formations using different personnel, which Klubnik said he believes will make the Tigers more difficult to defend.

“Just being able to run less plays and getting really, really good at it,” Klubnik said. “(Riley) has even said that it doesn’t matter if they know what the play is, we’re still going to be able to beat them at it. Just being really, really good at what we’re doing.”

Klubnik is also of the opinion that each player becoming well-versed with his assignment on each of those plays will allow the offense to pick up the tempo. He said he’s already seeing it happen.

“Even on the first day, after the first 10 minutes, it’s guys running around, getting to the spot and snapping the ball 15 seconds later. It’s fun,” he said. “You’re running around, getting set, snapping the ball, and you’re getting 6 more yards. And you’re taking a shot, and you’re getting 6 more. You’re getting 6 more, and you take a shot.”

It’s how Klubnik remembers playing at Westlake (Texas) High School near Austin, where he put up gaudy stats in becoming arguably the nation’s top quarterback prospect in the 2022 recruiting cycle. They included 7,426 passing yards, a 70% career completion rate and more than 110 career touchdowns.

He completed just 61% of his passes with more interceptions (3) than touchdown passes (2) in 10 games last season, but Klubnik believes Riley’s approach can help him get on track next season.

“It’s just a fun offense to play in,” Klubnik said.

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