The Clemson Tigers had a bit of a roller coaster of a season in 2024.

Despite what was arguably their worst regular season in over a decade including an embarrassing home defeat against the Louisville Cardinals and loss to the hated South Carolina Gamecocks, the Tigers found a way to win another ACC Championship and make the College Football Playoff.

Things didn’t end the way anyone wanted them to with a road loss in the first round against the Texas Longhorns, but what was undeniable was how much this Clemson team grew up during the year, and really during the Texas loss itself.

With an incredibly young core on both sides of the ball but really offense specifically, star quarterback Cade Klubnik’s connection with his pass catchers, and in turn his performance, improved throughout the season.

Klubnik was good enough that the fear was he could depart for the NFL Draft, but instead the Texas native announced he would return for his senior year coming off the best season of his career.

During an interview with the Field Talk Podcast, Klubnik spoke on his motivations behind the decision and revealed why he decided ultimately to play another year in Tiger orange.

“First of all, I think I need another year to really develop and keep getting better,” Klubnik said. “I’ve got two years, really, under my belt starting and played some my freshman year. It’s that, I want to go get better, but I’m still hungry for what I know this program has. We’re gonna be bringing nine starters back on offense and probably seven or eight on defense. We’ve got a great thing coming back.”

Hearing the fact that Klubnik believed he needed to get better isn’t much of a surprise, but he went on to state perhaps the strongest reason why he chose to return.

“I came to Clemson to win a national championship. That’s still right here for me. I think we’ve got the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here coming back. That’s really what I wanted.”

With virtually all of the contributors back on the offensive side of the ball, Klubnik’s Clemson team certainly has their best chance to make a real title push as they have in his entire career.

The faith in the defense has been renewed in the wake of hiring the Penn State Nittany Lions defensive coordinator Tom Allen who is going to try to fix things on that side of the ball, something that would go a long way in the pursuit of a title.

Having continuity between Klubnik and his receivers for a full offseason could mean the sky is the limit for how good this offense could be in 2025.

The Tigers hold all of their own cards next season and have as good of a chance as they’ve had in a long time to make some real playoff noise. It’s entirely up to them what they make of the opportunity.