It’s been a trying season for Cade Klubnik in his first full year as Clemson’s starting quarterback, with the Tigers sitting at 4-4 following back-to-back losses heading into Saturday’s game against Notre Dame.

Klubnik has had his ups and downs and experienced his share of struggles throughout the 2023 campaign to this point. Of course, he doesn’t like to lose and would ideally prefer to be leading a winning team, but Klubnik thinks he’s a better leader right now than he would be if the Tigers had a perfect record.

The true sophomore met with the media Monday and reflected on what he’s learned about leadership this season amid the adversity Clemson has faced.

“I don’t think I would be able to be as good of a leader if we were 8-0 right now,” Klubnik said. “So, I think this might be the best thing – I’ve kind of been saying it all year – but this could be the best thing for me and for this team and for the players on this team. So, I’m just getting to step up to another level of being a leader.”

Even if things were going great for the Tigers, being a leader as a first-year starting quarterback at a program like Clemson wouldn’t be easy. Losing makes that challenge all the more difficult, though.

But Klubnik, as he noted, is a person of strong faith. And in hard times when things are going bad, there’s one Bible verse in particular that Klubnik likes to fall back on – James 1:2-4, which reads, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

“I’ve just been leaning on that, more than anything,” Klubnik said. “When we meet these trials and we go through these times, like, my happiness might go up and down. But this game, it’s never going to bring my joy up or down. I get to walk in this building and I always get to have a smile on my face.”

And that’s what Klubnik believes being a leader is all about.

“I think that’s truly what being a leader is, is having the joy of walking in this program and just getting to be that every day for somebody else,” he said.