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Friedlander: QBs Cade Klubnik and DJU embody the contrast between rising Clemson and plummeting FSU
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It’s the game everyone in the ACC had circled before the season started.
Clemson at Florida State. The perennial conference champion against the defending champ. Two programs seemingly headed in the opposite direction.
Saturday’s showdown in Tallahassee is still the marquee matchup on this week’s ACC schedule.
Just not in the way anyone expected.
While the Tigers and Seminoles are, in fact, programs heading in dramatically different directions, the roles have been reversed since the season began 5-plus weeks ago.
Instead of dominating the ACC the way it did a year ago, preseason favorite FSU is 1-4 and on a downward spiral even its team of high-priced lawyers can’t sue their way out of. Clemson, on the other hand, has quieted the criticism over coach Dabo Swinney’s archaic recruiting philosophy by stringing together 3 consecutive impressive victories since an opening loss to Georgia and rising back to No. 15 in this week’s rankings.
The contrast between them will be on vivid display Saturday. With quarterbacks Cade Klubnik and DJ Uiagalelei taking center stage in the captivating melodrama.
They once were teammates. Both 5-star prospects with the weight of the college football world on their shoulders and expectations higher than the top row of seats at Clemson’s Death Valley.
Their careers have taken divergent paths, in part because DJU isn’t Trevor Lawrence – the No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick in 2021 and the quarterback he was recruited to replace – and because Klubnik isn’t DJU. Now that they’ll be back together at the same place at the same time, they’ll once again be judged against one another.
With a familiar conclusion all but guaranteed.
Klubnik as the hero because he’s still not DJU.
DJU the villain because he’s not Jordan Travis.
Their numbers, on the stat sheet and the scoreboard, add to the contrast.
Klubnik is completing 66.4% of his passes with 12 touchdowns and only 2 interceptions as the trigger man of an explosive offense averaging 42 points per game even after going without a touchdown in its opening game.
https://twitter.com/MarcWYFFNews4/status/1840225167970025740
Uiagalelei’s 53.8 completion percentage is the worst among the ACC’s 17 starting quarterbacks. His 4 touchdown passes are 2 fewer than the number of interceptions he’s thrown while leading a unit that has scored more than 16 points only once in 5 games.
That’s not even close to his level of production at Oregon State, where he resurrected his career last season. Or even his previous life at Clemson, where despite bouts of inconsistency, he still was good enough to help the Tigers to a pair of double-digit win seasons and a conference championship.
And it’s certainly not what Seminoles coach Mike Norvell had in mind when he brought the graduate transfer in to replace Travis in an offense that led the ACC in scoring a year ago.
Wanted to let yall know that during the hubbub of the Alabama Georgia game, DJU sucked at football again pic.twitter.com/Kbd3G25zi7
— Old Row Sports (@OldRowSports) September 29, 2024
DJU has been roundly booed by FSU fans at Doak Campbell Stadium and has shouldered the brunt of the blame for his team’s unexpected meltdown. Though as his former coach Dabo Swinney is quick to point out, it’s easy to scapegoat a quarterback when he’s playing behind an offensive line that’s already allowed 12 sacks with a ground game that has basically ground to a halt.
“Everything can go on the quarterback. But it’s not all on him,” Swinney said during his teleconference with the media on Sunday. “(FSU has) had a couple of close games and close losses, missed opportunities, drops. We all know what (DJU is) capable of doing.”
Swinney was remarkably gentle in his remarks toward his former quarterback. And not just because he’s being careful not to wake the sleeping giant by providing the reeling Seminoles with any bulletin board motivation.
He said that the 2 parted amicably and because DJU has earned a diploma from Clemson, he’ll always be part of the Tigers family.
“DJ … I love that kid,” Swinney said.
Because they represent opposing teams, the Clemson coach hasn’t been able to express those feelings to the FSU quarterback. He’ll finally get the chance to give him a hug and tell him in person on the field before or after Saturday’s game.
Whether DJU will play in the game is still uncertain.
Although Norvell has stayed with him throughout his struggles and he’s still listed atop the depth chart released by the Seminoles on Monday, the “OR” next to backup Brock Glenn’s name suggests that a change might be in the works. Glenn replaced DJU late in last week’s 42-16 loss at SMU — but went 0-for-4 passing on the final 2 drives, which netted 5 yards.
“We’re going to evaluate it through the week and see where it goes from there,” Norvell said at his weekly press conference on Monday.
Norvell’s noncommital statement might just be a smoke screen. Unconfirmed published reports suggest that DJU suffered a broken finger against SMU and won’t be available for the game. Even if he’s healthy enough to play, Norvell would be better served by turning the page, starting Glenn and evaluating the redshirt freshman with an eye toward the future.
Doing so would at least give the Seminoles an opportunity to take something positive from an already lost season. While saving DJU the further indignity of a nationally televised head-to-head comparison to the quarterback he was supposed to be.
Award-winning columnist Brett Friedlander has covered the ACC and college basketball since the 1980s.
