Why Clemson QB Thinks Tigers' Offense Can Make a Jump in 2025

The red zone offense has been a main point of emphasis over the course of fall camp, being one of the major Achilles’ heels of the team’s offense in the first two years under Riley. In year one, the team had a 71.15 percent conversion rate in the red zone. In year two, it jumped up to 85.42 percent.

Now, in fall camp, Klubnik has seen the improvement from the offense in the given zone. 

“We’ve been really successful in the red zone in terms of just this camp,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of really good play. Just taking care of the football has been one of the biggest things. Limiting negative plays, limiting sacks, runs for loss, but really just taking care of the ball. Five yards is great in the red zone, so being able to put the ball in play, as Coach Riley likes to say, and let our playmakers go make plays is really good for us.”

Even in the quarterback’s eyes, he’s seen a lot of learning situations from a season ago. While it saw him end up as one of the top returning quarterbacks in the country, he knows that there is a lot of work to be done.

“I wish I had a lot of plays back,” Klubnik said. “Just missed a lot of throws, missed a lot of reads, missed a lot of big time plays, that when we were up big, and let guys linger back in the game and I didn’t want them to. So, just being aggressive throughout games is going to be big for me and big for our offense.”

There is a plethora of buzz ahead of the Tigers’ Week 1 game against the LSU Tigers, which will be Klubnik’s first home opener with the team. Similar to his personal improvements, he is taking it on a “one day at a time” mentality, knowing there’s a lot of time to still improve until Aug. 30.

“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Klubnik said. “Obviously, I’m excited to go play a game and everything, I feel the buzz going around, but there’s a lot of work that we still need to do. Between now and next Saturday, there’s a lot more hours in the film room, lot more hours on the field that we need to have and be really good at in order to be great on that Saturday.”

There’s an emphasis to start on the right foot, as Klubnik has recorded an opening loss in both of his two starts as Clemson’s starting quarterback to open the year. Through self-inflicted mistakes and a drive to get back, following being short against Texas in the College Football Playoff, the team’s effort will look to clean up on some of the missed cues from years past. 

“Just don’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” Klubnik said. “Just take care of the ball and do what we do, and I’m excited for it.”

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