Klubnik Likes he can Lean on Clemson Hall of Famer

CLEMSON — Imagine the opportunity of working with one of the greatest quarterbacks to throw the football in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

This is the opportunity that is afforded to Cade Klubnik at Clemson. Though he has had the opportunity to lean on Clemson Hall of Famer Tajh Boyd off the field the last two years, now he can be coached up by the ACC’s second all-time leading passer.

In June, the NCAA’s Division I Council approved a rule change permitting any staff member to provide technical and tactical instruction to student-athletes during practice and competition.

Boyd is in his fourth season as an offensive analyst, but now he has the tag of assistant quarterbacks coach as well.

“That has been huge for me,” Klubnik said following Tuesday’s practice at Jervey Meadows. “Tajh [in the past] would have to shun me away at times because he could not talk, so just to have a resource like that, him and Coach [John] Grass, to immediately come back to the sideline and say, ‘Hey! What did you see here? Did I make the right decision? Did I trust my eyes? Did I have the check down? Stuff like that, it is just immediate feedback.”

It’s feedback Klubnik hopes he can use to improve on last year, when at times he did not always trust what he was seeing and did not always make the right decisions. Having someone of Boyd’s caliber and experience, not just as a college quarterback but as a Clemson quarterback should help the junior in more ways than one.

Klubnik mentioned, especially in camp, that there are times when he will come off the field and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Garrett Riley will be distracted. Riley will be gathering the second-team offense up and also coaching up backup Christopher Vizzina and getting him prepped.

It’s in those moments, having Boyd to go to is helpful to Klubnik, who in the past would have to wait to hear from Riley.

“It is also someone to talk to, as I am watching CV,” Klubnik said. “Just talking through and getting a true mental rep. That is big.”

Boyd still owns many of Clemson’s passing records. During his playing career from 2010-’13, he set Clemson career marks in nearly every passing category, including completions (901), passing yards (11,904) and passing touchdowns (107) as well as in touchdown responsibility (133). The three-time All-ACC pick and 2012 AFCA first-team All-American won ACC Player of the Year in 2012, and he finished his career as a finalist for the Unitas and Manning Awards.

Boyd led the Tigers to an ACC Championship in 2011, the program’s first in 20 years at the time, and then followed that up with back-to-back 11-2 seasons, which included postseason wins over top 10 teams in LSU and Ohio State. He was 32-8 as a starting quarterback at Clemson.