Why Clemson QB signee Cade Klubnik’s final high school game will be extra special
Before Todd Dodge was Cade Klubnik’s head football coach at Westlake High School in Austin, Texas, the two were unofficial teammates of sorts.
During the summer of 2014, Klubnik’s older brother, Reed, was competing in 7-on-7 tournaments. The younger Klubnik was there, too, with his parents. Even though school coaches aren’t allowed to coach 7-on-7 teams in Texas, Dodge would go to Westlake’s games in support. In between games, Dodge and Cade, who always carried a football, would toss the pigskin around in the end zone, their first introduction to one another.
Seven years later, the two will have one final game together on Saturday in the Texas High School Football Class 6A, Division II state championship game before two big milestones occur: Klubnik, a five-star, 6-foot-2, 186-pound recruit, will enroll at Clemson in January. Dodge will retire from coaching.
“When I first got to know Cade when he was a young boy, 10 years old, 11 years old, he just always was one of those children that always had a smile on his face, always had a zest for life,” Dodge said. “Now I’ve coached him for three years at the high school level, I still see that little boy in him. … Tremendous, unbelievable passion for the game of football. He’s one of those football players that I’ve had the privilege of coaching that absolutely respects the game. He respects it like no other as far as doing it the right way.”
The competitive spirit
Before marrying Todd Dodge, Elizabeth Neptune was a coach’s kid. Her father, the late Everett “Ebbie” Neptune, was an esteemed coach for the Westlake High School Chaparrals and the program’s athletic director for 22 years — including the season when Drew Brees won a Class 5A title there in 1996. Westlake’s field was also named after Everett Neptune in 2002.
Because of her background, Elizabeth Neptune Dodge could spot a competitor a mile away. Klubnik was at a much closer distance when he walked into her fifth-grade classroom in the fall of 2014.
“Very, very smart. Always a great student,” Todd Dodge recalled Elizabeth telling him about Klubnik. “She said he’s probably the most competitive fifth-grader she’s ever had. He was a natural leader then.”
Todd’s son, Riley, remembers going to his dad’s summer football camps at Westlake and watching Klubnik come up in the ranks. Riley, who was a quarterback for Todd when he coached at Southlake Carroll High School in the early 2000s, could tell Cade Klubnik had the “it” factor.
“This kid’s got a chance one day, if everything works out,” Riley Dodge remembered thinking. “He was special, even at an early age. … You can tell that a young quarterback, or even an older quarterback, has got it or not by his mannerisms, how he’s locked in, how he listens, if he’s up for the game or not.
“He always has been. He comes from a great family, but internally with Cade, it’s always been there.”
The Westlake legacy
Klubnik was a part-time starter for the Chaparrals as a high school sophomore in 2019, splitting time with seniors Kirkland Michaux and Drew Willoughby. Michaux closed out 2019 as the starter and led the Chaparrals to the program’s second-ever state championship with a 24-0 win over Denton Guyer.
Klubnik was then the heir to Westlake’s offense in 2020. Of the 14 games the Chaparrals played, they scored less than 50 points in four of them. Klubnik threw for 3,495 yards and 35 touchdowns with three interceptions and a 67.7% completion rate while adding 583 rushing yards and 15 more TDs.
In January, Riley Dodge had the tricky task of trying to stop Klubnik as the coach of his alma mater, facing Todd in a state championship game in what was referred to as the Dodge Bowl.
Both Southlake and Westlake were undefeated heading into the father-son clash. The Dragons also had Quinn Ewers, a former No. 1 recruit who recently committed to Texas, to set up a strength-on-strength duel of the state’s best.
The elder Dodge prevailed with the Chaparrals downing the Dragons 52-34 to repeat as champs. Klubnik went 18-for-20 for 220 yards and a touchdown in the win.
“I think the thing that separates him is, he can extend plays when things break down and the next part is you can put the ball in his hands,” Riley Dodge said of Klubnik. “I made this comment after the state championship game: It’s hard to defend a kid when he can throw the ball the way he can — and also, he’s the best athlete on the field. … When your quarterback is accurate, he’s got a big arm and then on top of it, he might be the best athlete on the field, that’s pretty difficult for anybody.”
With one game of high school football left, Klubnik, Clemson’s first-ever Elite 11 MVP commit, has 2,971 yards and 39 touchdowns with only two interceptions while completing 71.7% of his passes along with 405 yards and 12 more scores on the ground. Sitting at 7,146 career passing yards, per Maxpreps, the Texas Gatorade Player of the Year and 2021 Mr. Texas Football High School Player of the Year finalist has a chance to tie Taylor Anderson for Westlake’s all-time winningest quarterback on Saturday and contend for some passing records.
“This program has seen Drew Brees,” Todd Dodge said. “This program has seen Nick Foles. This program has seen Sam Ehlinger. This program has seen Kirkland Michaux, who was our starting quarterback when we won in 2019. This program has seen Taylor Anderson. … When I talk about all those other great quarterbacks, between the five of them, there were two state championships won: one in 1996 and one in 2019. Well, Cade, if we win on Saturday, he will be a part of back-to-back-to-back state championships and he will be the starting quarterback for two of them.
“I’ll let all the people in Westlake debate who the greatest of all time is, but I can tell you right now his name is right at the top of the list, if not, the top.”
The final ride
Two years ago, after the 2019 state title game, Todd Dodge was ready to retire.
At that time, the former Texas quarterback had already won four state championships while coaching at Southlake, was a multiple high school coach of the year honoree and a 2006 Texas High School Football Hall of Fame inductee. What more could he need?
In Elizabeth’s opinion, her husband needed to see what Klubnik and the Class of 2022 could do.
“She kind of said, ‘You might want to rethink this deal. I can remember when the kids that are sophomores for you now were some of the most competitive, good little athletes when they were in fifth grade,’ ” Todd Dodge recalled.
As any good husband would, he listened — and, as any good wife is, she was right. After winning it all in 2020, Todd made the announcement that the 2021 season, Klubnik’s senior year, would be it.
“I think that probably the biggest thing keeping him in it for the last couple of years has been Cade, to be honest,” Riley Dodge said. “If any coach is thinking about retirement or leaving a place, they’re always thinking about what they’ve got at quarterback. … I think he wanted to see Cade through. After his sophomore year, he knew kind of what he had in the kid and, in return, the guys around him. I know my dad felt like they had an opportunity to have a special run.”
The Chaparrals tore through their schedule unblemished, again, scoring less than 50 points in only three of their 15 games. Over the weekend, they took a 45-14 win over Katy in the Class 6A, Division II state semifinals.
“Our offensive line did a tremendous job along with our running back Jack Kayser of protecting Cade,” Todd said. “We felt like there was some stuff we could do in the passing game. … We got the matchups we wanted. He threw five touchdown passes on the night against the No. 2 team in the state of Texas.”
No matter what happens on Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Todd Dodge is hanging up his whistle and Klubnik is done with high school football. Getting to that point will be a challenge of its own, however. The jam-packed week includes final exams, game prep and the early signing day on Wednesday. If anyone can balance it all, though, it’s Cade Klubnik, who inked his letter with the Tigers with the intent to enroll in January.
After that, the focus is on Denton Guyer High in a rematch of the 2019 state championship game.
“I would be less than truthful if I didn’t say that when I decided not to retire after the 2019 season that part of that was that I wanted to see it through with Cade,” Todd Dodge said. “As I leave this thing, I’ve taken it in. I absolutely didn’t waste one minute of this journey away and I’m really just going to soak in this last week and have a great week and turn these kids loose.”
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
