CHARLOTTE – It’s the final season for many players on Clemson’s roster, and that’s expected to be the case for the top offensive stars on the team.

Starting quarterback Cade Klubnik enters his senior year, as does star receiver Antonio Williams, who is expected to forgo his senior year for the NFL. After playing together for the past three years, the duo has built a great connection that has been dangerous to face.

At the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte this past week, both talked about the connection that they have created and how their chemistry is going to affect the upcoming slate of competitions.

“Tones feel for the game is unlike anybody I’ve ever been around,” Klubnik said. “His ability to feel for the field, spatial awareness, and timing. It’s unbelievable.”

Williams has amassed 1,716 yards and 17 receiving touchdowns in his three seasons with the Tigers, but his impact goes beyond his stats. His leadership and intangible field skills are items that aren’t able to be put into a stat sheets, but those qualities are likely the most important of them all. In a way, he just makes things easy for his quarterback.

“I feel like we are always on the same page,” Klubnik said. “He is the definition of quarterback-friendly.”

Quarterback-friendly typically refers to a system of offense focused on reducing pressure on the quarterback by utilizing simple concepts, basic reads, and fast decision making to make things the easiest for the offensive leader. However, for a player to genuinely be quarterback-friendly is quite different.

These types of players take the idea of a surefire, dependable and pressure-reducing system of offense and make it all happen themselves. Klubnik believes that Williams does it all, and it helps him be the best he can be at the helm.

“I think that knowing coaches and knowing what he’s thinking,” Williams said of being called quarterback-friendly. “Recently, one of the connections that we have had in skills and drills is, there’s a corner route and there’s a cloud corner, and I’m running into the corner. We haven’t even talked about this, but I don’t run it into them. I just sit down, look back at the quarterback, and he is there, looking right at me. It’s the little things that you’ve never talked about, but you’re on the same page.”

Williams has displayed this kind of connection with Klubnik time after time, and this upcoming season is the final chance for their chemistry to help them produce towards a national title. His best game in 2024 came against the Pittsburgh Panthers, where Williams came down with 13 receptions for 149 yards and two scores, which helped pave the way for a 24-20 victory. Williams doesn’t take all the credit for their combined successes, however.

“Every year, Cade gets better, and I get better, and then that cohesion that we have and that chemistry helps us on game day when things get off script,” Williams said. “When you’re kind of running around trying to make a play. The best play in football is a broken play. When Cade gets out of the pocket, and can scramble like he does so well, it’s being on the same page and knowing where to go and get open for him that’s big for us.”

Both players are going to look to build upon that chemistry in Clemson’s upcoming fall camp before they kick off the season against LSU on Aug. 30 at Memorial Stadium.