Where Klubnik Landed in This Ranking of ACC QBs
By: Staff Report August 19, 2023

A national outlet recently stacked up the ACC’s quarterbacks ahead of the upcoming season.

Clemson’s QB1 cracked the top three of Athlon Sports’ 2023 ACC QB Rankings, coming in at No. 3.

Athlon factored a number of different things into its ranking, including “pure talent, supporting cast, having a clear hold on the No. 1 position, previous production, 2023 projection, and scheme changes (just to name a few)”.

With all of that considered, Athlon ranked Clemson’s Cade Klubnik as the third-best ACC signal-caller behind North Carolina’s Drake Maye at No. 1 and Florida State’s Jordan Travis at No. 2.

Klubnik and the Tigers will square off against Travis and the Seminoles on Sept. 23 at Death Valley before hosting Maye and the Tar Heels toward the end of the regular season on Nov. 18.

Here’s what Athlon’s Steven Lassan wrote about Klubnik as he heads into his first full season as Clemson’s starting quarterback:

“It’s no secret Klubnik is still largely unproven and had a shaky performance in Clemson’s Orange Bowl loss. But since we are projecting ahead, the guess here is the former five-star recruit takes off under the guidance of new play-caller Garrett Riley. In 10 appearances last year, Klubnik threw for 697 yards and two scores and added 139 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. In the aforementioned Orange Bowl, Klubnik struggled behind a shaky offensive line and was limited to just 5.9 yards per attempt on 30 completions for 320 yards. However, in the previous game, he helped the Tigers torch North Carolina 39-10 in the ACC Championship by throwing for 279 yards and a score and rushing for 30 yards and a touchdown.”

Ranked right behind Klubnik on Athlon’s list is Duke’s Riley Leonard, who will take on the Tigers in the Sept. 4 season opener in Durham.

Other ACC QBs on Athlon’s list, for teams that are scheduled to face Clemson during the 2023 regular season, are NC State’s Brennan Armstrong (No. 5), Miami’s Tyler Van Dyke (No. 6), Syracuse’s Garrett Shrader (No. 8), Wake Forest’s Mitch Griffis (No. 10) and Georgia Tech’s Haynes King (No. 12).

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