Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney has plenty of confidence in Cade Klubnik ahead of the 2022 Orange Bowl against Tennessee.

With D.J. Uiagalelei off to Oregon State, Klubnik will make his first career start for the Tigers on Friday in the Orange Bowl. Klubnik threw a mere 22 total passes over the regular season, as Swinney continued to call on Uiagalelei to anchor the Clemson offense. After a sluggish start in the ACC title game, the junior passer was benched for Klubnik, who recorded one touchdown pass and 279 passing yards in the contest.

With what Swinney has seen from the true freshman in practice as of late, there is much to be excited about the versatile passer.

“Yeah, well, he's been great,” Swinney said during a press conference on Thursday. “It's been a blessing that he's had a couple, two, three weeks here to just settle in and lead. But he's really not any different. He's just a kid that he's always on, he's always got a ton of energy. He loves to play. He loves to practice. He's just one of those guys that really loves the game.

“He's embraced it, and he's done a great job with it. He's excited about it. He's worked really hard to get to this point and knows he has a huge challenge ahead. Just a lot more comes with it that he's had to manage, but I think he's done a good job.”

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This is not Swinney’s first rodeo when it comes to calling on freshman quarterbacks to lead the offense in crucial games. Deshaun Watson, Trevor Lawrence, and Uiagalelei were under center for must-win contests during their respective freshman campaigns. However, there are a few reasons why Swinney believes Klubnik is “probably more ready” than these three passers were ahead of their first collegiate starts.

“Yeah, probably more ready than they were, honestly, because those guys — he's had a little more time in the crock pot,” Swinney said.

“Those guys had to be ready a little quicker, so I think Cade, he's had time to — he's still a work in progress, but he's had time to physically, first of all, get himself in a much better situation than he was when he got here at about 179 pounds. … He's had a lot of game plans. He's had a lot of corrections. He's had a lot of weeks of practice and some experience to go with it, some good experience, some bad experience to prepare him. All those things I think have made him well-prepared for this opportunity.”

Clemson is looking to cap off the campaign with a 12-2 record.