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What Dabo Swinney said about Clemson possibly playing 2 QBs this year

Matt Connollyby: Matt Connolly08/18/22MattConnollyOn3
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Clemson QBs Cade Klubnik and DJ Uiagalelei have both gotten opportunities this season. (Susan Lloyd)

DJ Uiagalelei is Clemson’s starting quarterback entering the 2022 season. That has been known for some time.

But will five-star freshman Cade Klubnik get opportunities to show what he can do during a game as well?

We asked Clemson coach Dabo Swinney that question Wednesday afternoon.

“DJ’s the starter, for sure. This is where we are. Obviously he’s gotta go play well. Just like anybody else, you’ve gotta go play well,” Swinney said. “But we certainly hope to get Cade as much opportunity as we can. That’s something that we need to do.”

Clemson has had similar situations to this before where a veteran quarterback opened the season as the starter with a talented freshman behind him.

In 2018, Kelly Bryant was the returning starter with freshman QB Trevor Lawrence behind him.

Clemson opened that season against Furman and Lawrence came in the game during the second quarter on Clemson’s fourth series.

Lawrence also saw action in the second quarter against Texas A&M, first quarter against Georgia Southern and second quarter against Georgia Tech before taking over as the starter in Week 5.

The situation was handled a bit differently in 2020 when Uiagalelei was a freshman and Lawrence was the starter.

In the season opener against Wake Forest, the California native didn’t see action until late in the third quarter.

Uiagalelei went on to play in the second quarter against The Citadel, fourth quarter against Virginia, first quarter against Miami and fourth quarter against Syracuse, before being called upon to start against Boston College and Notre Dame after Lawrence tested positive for COVID-19.

With Bryant and Lawrence, Swinney routinely got the freshman in the game early to show what he could do. With Lawrence and Uiagalelei, the freshman played mostly late in games when the game was out of hand.

It remains to be seen just exactly how Swinney will handle this situation.

“DJ’s going to graduate in December, and he’s got big goals and aspirations, and he knows what he’s gotta go do. So he’s just gotta go do it,” Swinney said. “But hopefully we’ll be able to get Cade as much opportunity as we can. DJ’s the starter. He’s earned that. It’s up to him to continue to earn it every week.”