When No. 15 Clemson heads to Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday night to take on Florida State in an Atlantic Coast Conference game, the quarterback storyline many expected reportedly won’t come to fruition.
It was supposed to be a matchup between ex-Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, now the starter at Florida State, and Cade Klubnik, the quarterback who replaced him in the 2022 ACC Championship Game.
But Florida State (1-4, 1-3) expects to have sophomore Brock Glenn make his first start of the season, against Clemson (3-1, 2-0), with Uiagalelei having suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand, according to ESPN. Uiagalelei is expected to miss multiple games, per the report.
Uiagalelei has struggled, throwing four touchdown passes and six interceptions and has completed only 53.8 percent of his passes with a quarterback rating of 34.4.
“DJ did make a lot of good throws throughout the course of the game and some good decisions,” Seminoles coach Mike Norvell said of last week’s 42-16 loss at SMU. “He made some poor decisions and a couple bad throws, but you’ve got to help the quarterback. I don’t think we’ve done a good job of that consistently. At the end of the day, we all have to have ownership in that.”
Glenn entered in relief against the Mustangs and did not complete any of his four pass attempts. Last season, Glenn started for the Seminoles as a true freshman in the ACC title game against Louisville after injuries sidelined Jordan Travis and Tate Rodemaker.
Glenn went 8 for 21 for 55 yards in the Seminoles’ 16-6 victory and was sacked four times. He also started FSU’s 63-3 loss to Georgia in the Orange Bowl, going 9-for-26 for 139 yards with two interceptions.
“I don’t care who’s playing quarterback,” Norvell said. “Some of the things that showed up tonight. Playing quarterback, you can have a freshman, you can have whatever talent in the world, we’ve got to help the quarterback out, too.”
Klubnik has fared far better than Uiagalelei this season.
In addition to one of the best touchdown-to-interception ratios in the country with 12 touchdown passes and two interceptions, Klubnik enters Saturday’s game ranked second in the ACC in QB rating (89.1) and is tied for the third-most touchdown passes.
“It’s a part of it, but the majority of the credit belongs to him and his growth from last year. He’s a really talented football player,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “Sometimes you have to be patient with some guys. Not every guy will show up and no assembly required. He put a ton of work in during the offseason and in every area.”
Clemson, which is coming off a 40-14 victory over Stanford last week, also has one of the top running games in the conference. The Tigers are led by one of the ACC’s most efficient running backs in Phil Mafah, who is averaging 8 yards per carry, among the best in the conference.
The biggest question for the Tigers has been their defense, which has yielded an average of 401.8 yards per game, including 183.3 rushing. Clemson ranks second-to-last in the ACC in both categories.
Swinney said Tuesday he hopes the Tigers will have offensive lineman Collin Sadler (calf) and defensive lineman Peter Woods (leg) back in the lineup after each player missed the past two games because of injuries.
“(Woods) was close. I think he’s right there,” Swinney said. “So we’re hopeful.”
