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Dabo Swinney has warning for those who don't believe in Arch Manning, Cade Klubnik
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- Dabo Swinney has warning for those who don't believe in Arch Manning, Cade Klubnik
CLEMSON — There's no sugarcoating from Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney that quarterback Cade Klubnik must perform better.
Klubnik's play hurt No. 8 Clemson (0-1) in its 17-10 loss to No. 4 LSU (1-0) at Memorial Stadium. He completed 50% of his passes for 230 yards with no touchdowns and one interception after entering the top-10 matchup as a preseason Heisman contender, ACC player of the year favorite and a projected first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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"He had a bad day. Ain't no other way to say it," Swinney said Sept. 2. "If (No. 2) ain't a dude, we ain't winning."
Swinney mentioned Texas quarterback Arch Manning , the nephew of Super Bowl winning quarterbacks Peyton and Eli Manning . He entered 2025 with arguably the most hype out of any player, being picked as a Heisman favorite, a potential first-round pick in the 2026 NFL Draft and the player who would lead Texas to its first national championship since 2005.
However, Manning struggled mightily in his season-opening game against Ohio State, the reigning national champions, on the road in his third career start. He led only one scoring drive and failed to lead a game-tying drive against the Buckeyes similar to Klubnik. Manning's performance led to immense criticism from fans and media, but Swinney backed the third-year quarterback.
"Arch Manning is going to be a freaking superstar," Swinney said. "People that don't believe that, they're just stupid."
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Swinney feels the same way with Klubnik, who struggled in back-to-back season-opening games. He said Klubnik failed to do the routine stuff vs. LSU, including going through his progressions to find the open receiver and rushing out of the pocket when he didn't have to.
Klubnik resembled the sophomore version of himself in Week 1; the player who fans wanted Swinney to bench or replace via the transfer portal. Yet, Swinney is confident Klubnik will correct these mistakes, starting with Troy, a Group of 5 program, on Sept. 6 (3:30 p.m. ET, ACC Network) at Memorial Stadium.
"The biggest issue in that game is our best player didn't play well," Swinney said. "If that's the biggest issue coming out of that game, sign me up because (No. 2) will respond. Promise you."
Dabo Swinney provides injury update on Antonio Williams , Khalil Barnes
Swinney said starting wide receiver Antonio Williams and safety Khalil Barnes are "day to day" after both suffered hamstring injuries against LSU. Williams exited in the first quarter with no catches, and Barnes departed in the third with one quarterback hurry.
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Both are listed as starters in Clemson 's Week 2 depth chart but could miss the Troy game to prepare for conference play in Week 3 because hamstring injuries are tricky. If they miss time, Tyler Brown will fill in for Williams, and Ronan Hanafin or Kylon Griffin will replace Barnes.
Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Dabo Swinney: Clemson coach's warning about Arch Manning, Cade Klubnik
