Cade Klubnik addresses comparison to Johnny Manziel from opponent

While he’s not sure he lives up to it, Cade Klubnik is happy to own the comparison to Johnny Manziel, no matter who is making it.

The comparison, originally said to Clemson wideout Antonio Williams from an opposing defensive back, is certainly lofty praise. And though Klubnik isn’t playing at a Heisman level, he did display a Manziel-ian turn with his game-deciding touchdown run against Pitt on Saturday.

Either way, Klubnik demurred when it was brought up.

“That’s a pretty big comparison right there, to Johnny Manziel. I’ll take that. But I’m not trying to compare myself to him, because that’s one of the greatest of all time right there. But that’s definitely pretty cool,” Klubnik said.

And Klubnik also poked some fun at his wideout.

“And I’m always talking smack to ‘Tone every day about how I’m faster than him,” Klubnik said. “Any time that he gets to say that, I’m going to go talk to him after this and tell him I’m faster than him. Definitely fun to use my legs every once in a while.”

Klubnik admitted he didn’t think he’d score on the go-ahead touchdown play

Clemson trailed Pittsburgh 20-17 with fewer than two minutes to play on Saturday, College Football Playoff and ACC title hopes hanging firmly in the balance. Klubnik needed to lead a solid drive down the field.

Little did he know, the seas would soon part for him and he’d waltz in for a 50-yard touchdown on a simple quarterback draw.

“No, I did not expect that to definitely score,” Klubnik said. “I mean they were just playing a lot of two-man. They were in the first half, and then a lot in the second one too. Just a lot of two-man. So we kind of saw that and coach (Garrett) Riley had a great call. I think it was second-and-4, something like that. So that’s a great call. Just stick draw.”

Klubnik took the snap and quickly surveyed the field. He let the pass rush get up the field for a quick second, then took off up the middle.

Initially he had nothing but open grass. Then he saw a safety coming down. He explained the rest.

“It’s a great four-second call, go get the first down, get a quick ‘nother play off if we get tackled,” Cade Klubnik said. “But definitely go get all you can.

“I’m running down the field, I get to the second level it’s wide open, we block it up perfectly. I get up to the second level, I see the safety coming at me, so I’m like, ‘I’ve got to get out of bounds.’ We don’t have any timeouts so I kind of take it right. Start going right, out of bounds. TJ (Moore)‘s blocking his guy and then the guy peeled around, not letting me get out of bounds. And TJ just kind of kept him going and then I just kind of reacted and just kind of went with it.”