Cade Klubnik came into Clemson’s program last year knowing nothing but winning, having gone 27-0 as a starter his last two years in high school while guiding Westlake (Austin, Texas) to state championships in both of those seasons.

Unfortunately for Klubnik, wins have been a lot harder to come by in his young career as the Tigers’ starting quarterback. Including last year’s Orange Bowl loss to Tennessee in his first career start, the former five-star prospect has a 4-5 record through his first nine college starts.

Klubnik and the Tigers are 4-4 this season, and it’s certainly unfamiliar territory for a Clemson program that won at least 10 games every year from 2011-22, made six straight College Football Playoff appearances from 2015-20, played for four national championships in that span and won national titles in 2016 and 2018.

“This is a winning program at the end of the day. So, when we have a record like we have, nobody’s used to it,” Klubnik said on Monday. “So, it’s learning how to handle that.”

Klubnik added, though, that he’d “much rather be in a winning program than a losing program.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” the true sophomore said. “I’m sticking to this place.”

Klubnik noted that his head coach, Dabo Swinney, also faced adversity early in his tenure with the Tigers before going on to become one of the winningest active coaches in college football.

“I trust everybody here and I trust Coach Swinney,” said Klubnik, who has thrown for has thrown for 1,947 yards and 13 touchdowns with five interceptions in eight games this season.

“Earlier on in his career, he had some ups and downs, but look at what he did after that. So, we’re just going to create momentum and just continue to put our head down and work.”

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