Clemson suffered a heartbreaking 31-24, overtime loss to Florida State on Saturday at Death Valley, but the Tigers’ QB1 showed plenty of growth and potential in a promising performance against the Seminoles.

Cade Klubnik has experienced his share of struggles early in his Clemson career, and he wasn’t perfect on Saturday. However, he was sharp for the most part, showed a lot of moxie and made fewer mistakes while going toe-to-toe with FSU quarterback Jordan Travis.

Klubnik completed 25-of-38 passes for 283 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions, to go with a 1-yard rushing score, and connected on 10 straight passes at one point.

“I thought Cade was amazing,” Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney said after the game. “That kid was amazing – an absolute amazing performance by him… he made some huge plays.”

Klubnik has had his critics, and that comes with the territory as the Tigers’ starting quarterback, but his future at Clemson is bright and he showed that on Saturday.

New Clemson Hall of Fame inductee Kyle Parker knows a thing or two about playing quarterback in Tiger Town, having amassed 4,902 total yards in his two seasons at QB from 2009-10 and guided the Tigers to their first ACC Atlantic Division championship in 2009.

Parker believes Klubnik is only going to get better and told The Clemson Insider before Saturday’s game that he thinks patience should be excercised with the young QB, who still has just five career starts under his belt as a true sophomore.

“I’m excited to watch Cade progress,” said Parker, who had 4,739 passing yards and 32 passing touchdowns, a top-10 mark in Tiger history.

“I look at him, he’s got all the tools, right – he can throw, he can move. But the one thing is, he’s young, right. I think trying to take that into perspective — that he hasn’t had that much experience and he’s coming in with a new OC and something that we haven’t dealt with for a while — I think having a little patience and grace with him will go a long way.”

Parker was expecting to see a leap from Klubnik over the course of this season, and his performance Saturday vs. FSU was an encouraging indication of his growth and development.

“I really kind of predict him making a jump, I would say, midway through the year. Hopefully this weekend, but I think he’s going to learn and evolve,” Parker said. “I think there’s a lot of potential there, which I’m excited to watch.”

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