When Clemson took the field against SMU, it was the first time since taking over as the starting quarterback at Clemson that Cade Klubnik missed a game due to injury.

Outside of missing a few games during his senior season in high school, Klubnik has been a model of health, so watching from the sidelines as the Tigers fell 35-24 to the Mustangs was not easy.

“It was tough,” Klubnik told Yahoo Sports. “I haven’t missed a game since my senior year of high school, and then I missed three that year. I didn’t miss any in high school before that. I haven’t missed many games. I’ve been blessed to be pretty healthy, but man, I love to play. That’s why you work all year to play the game, and I did everything I could to go play that game, but my body just wasn’t quite ready.”

Klubnik suffered an ankle injury late in the third quarter in the blowout win at Boston College. After being unable to practice all of last week, the senior quarterback still took the field during pregame and tried to give it a go. However, after about five minutes of warm-ups, it became clear that it just wasn’t meant to be, and his 34-game start streak was snapped.

Backup Chris Vizzina filled in admirably, throwing for 317 yards and three touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough, as the Tigers dropped to 3-4 on the season and 2-3 in ACC play.

With Clemson off this week, Klubnik gets some extra time to get healthy before the Tigers host Duke next Saturday. While his status for that game is still up in the air, the senior signal caller insists that he will be back as soon as he can.

“I’m going to continue to fight, and I’ll be back soon, hopefully,” Klubnik said. “Continue to fight for this team and be ready.”

Knowing that this team is in the midst of what could potentially be the worst of the Dabo Swinney era, Klubnik is looking to make the most of what is left of his collegiate career.

“I think it starts with the leaders on this team,” he said. “For me, I’m a competitor. And I love to win and I hate to lose, so I’m not going anywhere. My goal is to show up the same every single week, win or a loss, and be the same guy day in, day out for these guys. Because that’s really what they need, and that’s what this team needs is leaders that are going to be the same people every single day. So I’m going to continue to fight. I’ve got five more weeks guaranteed in college football, and I’m going to enjoy it and I’m going to go give it everything I have and continue to fight for these guys and for this university.”

Photo courtesy of Bart Boatwright