CLEMSON- Cade Klubnik growth as a leader was well documented over the offseason, particularly in the leadup to the season-opening game against top-ranked Georgia.

After the demoralizing 34-3 loss to the Bulldogs in Atlanta on Saturday, that leadership has been on full display, with Klubnik continuing to go to bat for the players in the locker room.

The junior quarterback met with the media on Wednesday, maintaining that despite a passing attack that was still littered with inconsistency, he still believes in his team.

“The message has been, ‘Hey, we’ve got everybody we need. We’ve got all the talent we need,'” Klubnik said on Tuesday. “But just fine tuning those details in certain spots. It’s not like we’re missing something. I feel like we have everything we need. Just got to go execute.”

In fact, after a first half that saw the Tigers go toe-to-toe with the No. 1 team in the country, Klubnik insists that he and the rest of his teammates are even more confident in themselves and that the key to having success is just going out and executing.

“A  couple guys have said it, and it’s weird to hear probably from y’all’s point of view, but I remember Tristan (Leigh) saying it first. I believe in this team more now than I did before the game,” Klubnik added. “Because we’re sitting there at halftime neck and neck.”

“Obviously, offensively we didn’t play the way we wanted to, but we were still putting drives together. Then we get a penalty, or just some bad play, and we put another drive together, penalty, bad play, another drive. But we’re neck and neck with the number one team in the country. They made plays that that we didn’t make on Saturday. That we need to make, and they made them.”

Klubnik was 18-of-29 for 142 yards and an interception in the loss, with the offense managing just 188 yards of total offense. While it was not the performance the offense was hoping to start the season with, the quarterback insists this team will be better because of what happened in Atlanta.

“That’s kind of the confidence that we have in the team is, hey, we can hang with those guys. We can hang with anybody,” Klubnik said. “Just confidence going the rest of the season.”

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