National analyst after firsthand look at Cade Klubnik this offseason: "Now I get it"

When Austin evaluates the Tigers' signal caller, he believes there aren't many on Klubnik's level who have such an innate love for football.

Grayson Mann · Staff Writer · Sunday, June 29 2025

There aren't many who love college football quite like Cade Klubnik.

Just ask college football analyst Brooks Austin.

That type of affection for the game was on full display at the Elite 11 earlier in June, where Klubnik was stealing the show with his work behind the scenes.

The rising senior and current No. 2 in odds (DraftKings) to win the Heisman Trophy was there as a counselor for the event's campers, but class was in session for him as well.

Working with quarterback coach Jordan Palmer, Klubnik meticulously attacked specific parts of his game, treating each minute with such an intense sense of urgency.

At that moment, everything clicked for Austin.

Joining the Orange Crush Podcast this week, the college football analyst says he understands why Klubnik made such tremendous growth in his game from the Georgia opener to being Clemson's life preserver in the postseason against Texas.

When Austin evaluates the Tigers' signal caller, he believes there aren't many on Klubnik's level who have such an innate love for football.

"I don't know if there's very many people in this world that are in that stratosphere of someone who I look at and I watched for 90 minutes to two hours and I'm like, dang, dude, I got to wake up tomorrow not only loving football more, but I got to dedicate myself to my craft like this guy does to his," Austin said. "It was borderline paralysis by analysis, watching this young man work, okay? He was constantly, throughout the four days or three days that he was there, the quarterbacks would be working, the other camp counselors would be standing around and then you'd look over in the end zone and Cade Klubnik might as well be getting a personal workout session with Jordan Palmer in the middle of everybody else working."

Klubnik made headlines when talking about studying the tape of Bailey Zappe and Joe Burrow, who put up astronomical numbers in their final collegiate seasons.

In Austin's eyes, it was the work that separated someone like Burrow from the rest of the pack during his Heisman campaign in 2019, with a relentless pursuit of perfection culminating in LSU's title run.

Klubnik is emulating that work, and that attention to detail will only serve to benefit Clemson overall. Austin compared Klubnik's deep understanding of his mechanics to hearing a biomechanics engineer break down their field.

"That's who you would think you were listening to because he has studied so, so hard," Austin said. "How do I maximize what God gave me? And that's the goal when I go out and I look for football players, as the director of scouting, and I want people who love football, but have the passion and energy to work tirelessly to find whatever minute advantage that they can find. And that's what Cade Klubnik is about."

When evaluating how much Klubnik has grown throughout his Clemson career, it is evident that all of that meticulous work has paid off.

Sometimes, you have to see it firsthand to understand. For Austin, a question lingered on his mind after Klubnik's performance against Texas, wondering how he continued to get better from the Georgia opener.

A few days in Los Angeles were all it took for everything to click.

Now, he understands, and believes Klubnik's football future is set in stone for years to come.

"Honestly, I didn't get it," Austin said. "I didn't get it when I first watched it, like last year going into the Georgia game, watching tape, and then watching the Georgia game, watching the tape. I didn't get why at the end of the year he was dicing up Texas' defense better than anybody else. I didn't get how this dude was constantly making bigger and bigger throws every single time. Now I get it, I 100% get it. It's like breathing for him. Growth is going to happen. I said this in that video, and I stand by this. I don't know if Cade Klubnik will ever be like a premier NFL starter, but that dude's going to live on an NFL football team as long as he wants. He'll be on an NFL football team until he physically cannot throw a football any longer."