When Cade Klubnik left Saturday’s 41-10 win over Boston College late in the third quarter on Saturday, everyone on the Clemson sideline took a deep breath.

On the play, Klubnik ran six yards on a designed quarterback run where he took a big hit from a couple of BC defenders with 1:21 to play in the third quarter.

On the replay, it appeared Klubnik’s left knee got stuck on the turf. He got up limping and was taken out of the game. Christopher Vizzina replaced him at quarterback and threw a fourth-down interception in the end zone to end the Clemson scoring drive.

Vizzina finished the game by leading the Tigers on a fourth quarter scoring drive.

Swinney said after the game that Klubnik got rolled up on.

“He’s been kind of nursing a little bit of a sore ankle, anyway. You’ve probably seen it taped up. But he just kind of rolled it up – it just got rolled under him,” the Clemson coach said. “So, he went in [the injury tent]. They untaped him, re-taped him. And like I said, he was ready to go back in. I said, well, let’s just see how CV [Vizzina] does right here, and it’s good for CV to play. It was good for him to go in there and play.”

Swinney says if Klubnik can’t go when the Tigers host SMU next Saturday, then he has complete faith that Vizzina can lead the team.

“He practices every day. If he had to, at least he has been able to play these last two weeks,” Swinney said. “That has been a blessing. He got some experience last week and got a chance to get back in there today. He practices well every week. He has prepared well, but he has not had a ton of opportunity to play. So, these last two weeks have been big for him, and we trust him.”

photo by Eric Canha-Imagn Images