Facing off against each other in Clemson’s spring game last Saturday, the Tigers’ top two signal-callers were under the spotlight, and now an analyst with ties to Clemson has weighed in on the team’s potential competition.
ACC analyst Eric Mac Lain, who played for Clemson from 2011 to 2015, was on the field talking with head coach Dabo Swinney during the spring game and got an up-close look at rising junior DJ Uiagalelei and mid-year enrollee Cade Klubnik.
From Mac Lain’s perspective, Saturday’s game solidified that there is a quarterback competition between the two, but “it’s a very tough reading at the end of the day” because of all the injuries among offensive personnel this spring.
Uiagalelei finished Saturday with 175 yards and one interception on 17-36 passing. Klubnik, on the other hand, had 106 yards and a touchdown on 15-23 passing.
After losing significant weight since the fall, Uiagalelei’s physical build was a characteristic that immediately caught Lain’s attention.
“His body looks fantastic: composition, weight. And that freed him up to move really, really well,” Lain said on Gramlich and Mac Lain.
Still, Mac Lain believes Klubnik has the talent to create competition.
“When I look at Cade , he’s going to be pushing,” he said. “He’s hungry, and I think he showed some really, really good things: accuracy, his ability to create when stuff did go down.”
In Mac Lain’s opinion, the one thing Klubnik needs to work on is his pocket presence, as he was sacked five times on Saturday.
Ultimately, Uiagalelei remains Clemson’s starter, but Mac Lain thinks the potential competition between him and Klubnik will continue through the summer.
“I think Clemson is in a good spot with both of these quarterbacks,” he said. “The coaches are more than confident, more than excited about both of them, but certainly, it’s going to be a main focus of discussion up until we kick this thing off.”
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