Former Clemson LB Shows Major Love to Klubnik
By: Gavin Oliver February 28, 2025

It’s safe to say Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik left a sizeable impression on former Tiger star linebacker Barrett Carter.

Carter had plenty of praise for his former teammate Klubnik at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week.

“I could go on and on and on about Cade,” Carter said to the media. “The day that he stepped foot on campus his freshman year, he’s been that same guy since the day that I left, and I know he’s going to continue to be that same guy. And he’s truly just one of the most special people I’ve ever been around. He’s led our Bible study groups. He’s led our football team. He leads in any room that he walks in.”

As for Carter personally, the versatile defender was called by Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney as “one of the best pure football players I’ve had in 20 years.”

Following his decorated career with the Tigers, what thing is Carter most proud of leaving Swinney’s program?

“I would just say the way I impacted guys,” Carter said in an interview with NFL on NBC at the combine. “That’s not even talking about what I did on the field. All that stuff speaks for itself. But I truly felt like I left a lasting impact on those guys, just how I treated them, just the bonds that I built, all the relationships that I have – truly relationships that will carry me the rest of my life. So, like I said, the football is going to speak for itself. But the impact and the relationships that I had with the guys, I feel like that’s going to speak more.”

Carter was a Butkus Award finalist, first-team All-ACC selection and third-team All-American as a senior this past season, when he recorded 84 tackles (10.5 for loss), 3.5 sacks, nine pass breakups and a fumble recovery in 837 defensive snaps from scrimmage over 14 games (all starts). He was one of 12 Clemson players to start all 14 games in 2024, and his total number of snaps from scrimmage were the most by a Clemson linebacker since 2016 (882 by Ben Boulware).

A two-time All-America selection and two-time All-ACC honoree, Carter was credited by Clemson’s coaching staff with 254 tackles (31.5 for loss), 12.5 sacks, 24 pass breakups, three interceptions, two forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries over 52 games (40 starts) from 2021-24.

At the conclusion of his career, Carter’s 2,482 career snaps were the most by a Clemson linebacker on record. He was the only player in the nation during his four-year career to record at least 30 tackles for loss, at least 20 pass breakups and three or more interceptions.

NFL Network draft guru Daniel Jeremiah expects Carter to be picked in the “third round range” of the 2025 NFL Draft, which is scheduled to be held from April 24-26 inside and around iconic Lambeau Field and Titletown in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Carter pinpointed the biggest thing he wanted NFL teams to learn about him after meeting with him at the NFL Combine.

“That I’m more than a football player,” Carter said, “and when they draft me, they’re not just getting a great player – they’re getting a man who’s going to come into their locker room and change the program, bring value to the program from the first day I step foot in the building. So, just know that they’re getting a guy who’s deeper than football.”

You can check out more of Carter’s interview with NFL on NBC‘s Connor Rogers at the combine below: