A major announcement was made earlier this week regarding the Clemson Tigers and their hopes for the 2025 season: Cade Klubnik would be returning for his senior season.
Kubnik, who finished the year accounting for 4,102 yards and 43 touchdowns to just six interceptions, announced that he would be returning for one more year. He kept Clemson in the game on the road against Texas, throwing for 336 yards and three touchdowns to one interception.
In addition to Klubnik's return, Clemson is set to boast some major talent on the offensive side of the ball. The Tigers will return talented freshmen Bryant Wesco and T.J. Moore and recent reports suggest that Antonio Williams will likely be returning, as well. That doesn't include the likes of Tyler Brown, Cole Turner, or incoming transfer Tristan Smith. Clemson will keep four starters on the offensive line, as well.
The big question for Clemson will be this: Can the defense improve?
There's talent with names like Peter Woods, T.J. Parker, Sammy Brown, Aveion Terrell, Ashton Hampton, Khalil Barnes, and incoming edge transfer Will Heldt. But, Clemson struggled to stop the run last season and that cost them in a major way, especially in the second half of the 17-14 loss to South Carolina and in the first-round of the College Football Playoff against Texas.
Reports from Clemson indicate that the Tigers will be making some major changes to the defensive staff — including moving on from Defensive Coordinator Wes Goodwin — but nothing has been announced at this time.
Say what you want about Clemson, but there's real reason to believe that the Tigers could be a legitimate national championship contender next year. Cade Klubnik is going to enter the year as a Heisman candidate and he has the deepest wide receiver room that we've seen at Clemson since the days of Trevor Lawrence at his disposal.
The Tigers have improvements to make, but there's no doubt that Clemson is going to put up some points next year. With the right defensive coordinator hire — and, perhaps, a couple more pieces from the Transfer Portal — Clemson is going to enter the 2025 season a preseason Top-10 team and, honestly, there's no reason to believe that the Tigers couldn't be in the picture to compete for a national championship next season.
It's a long offseason, but there's legitimate reason for hope again in Clemson for the first time in several years.