Garrett Riley seeing maturity out of Cade Klubnik and the offense

Riley is seeing maturity out of Klubnik.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Mar 28 09:15:02 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Garrett Riley sees an offense that is showing its battle scars and maturity, and that includes quarterback Cade Klubnik.

The Tigers scrimmaged for over two hours inside Death Valley Wednesday afternoon, the final scrimmage ahead of the April 6th spring game. Riley, the Tigers’ second-year offensive coordinator, said Klubnik is improving daily.

“He was consistent, really sparked the whole day with the play he made with his feet, and he found (Bryant) Wesco for a pretty nice one, a big play, and that just kind of sparked the whole day,” Riley said. “So I was happy with Cade and how he kind of bounced back from the last scrimmage. CV (Christopher Vizzina) is doing a lot of really good things. He's getting reps, and you can tell he is becoming more confident every single day. But he kind of had a bad play, and the great thing you see in these scrimmages, he had a bad play today, and then he bounced back and had a great play after that. So that's always a good sign that you see from quarterback.”

Riley said the good thing is that Vizzina is pushing Klubnik.

“There's competition there. That's what's good,” Riley said. “I mean, you get a guy that's going to put the ball in play, and I don't care what team, if it's ones, twos, threes, whoever and whatever group he's in, if he's leading and we're driving the ball and scoring and creating touchdowns, that's just going to naturally create that competition. So that's just what we're seeing right now.”

Last year’s offense was full of youth, but Riley said that the entire group is beginning to show its maturity.

“That's kind of what I expected coming off last season, second year at the same offense, you got a quarterback that's played, you got offensive line that's coming back, and that's played a lot of snaps together,” Riley said. “It just felt like our maturity just overall would emerge and I think we've seen that. I think we're starting to see that. And I think collectively, upfront, we've done some really good things, whether it's past protection or some of the run game, I've seen a lot of growth in that room.”

That maturity extends to Klubnik.

“No question. The guy has played a lot of snaps now. It’s just being comfortable in year two of the same language, the same system, and the same guys that are around him with some of the additions,” Riley said. “It’s the expectation of not having to try to feel like you got to make too much happen and just those sort of things that when you're a high school quarterback, and you've made plays all your life, and you get away with making some of those plays, and you don't at this level, sometimes you just have to learn and go through it. And so that's what I'm starting to see with him this spring.”

The final drive against Kentucky in the Gator Bowl has also added to Klubnik’s confidence.

“You get a two-minute drive and play a bowl game against that opponent and the kind of the crazy day that was, just the crazy game,” Riley said. “It was neat to cap it off the way we did. I mean, that's a huge confidence booster, not just for him but for everybody.”