DJ Uiagalelei made headlines recently when he expressed frustrations over Clemson’s offense in an interview with The Athletic.
Among other things, the former Clemson quarterback said he believed the scheme was “very basic” and wasn’t tailored around what he feels he does best.
“I didn’t want to do what I was doing at Clemson,” Uiagalelei said. “I didn’t really like what we did there scheme-wise. I didn’t think we did very much. I thought it was very basic. It didn’t help me out as a quarterback and play to my strengths. I wanted to go somewhere that would play to my strengths and go somewhere that would develop me for the NFL. Play-action, work under center, throw the ball deep.”
On Monday at the Prowl & Growl event in Rock Hill, Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney gave his reaction to what was said by Uiagalelei, who has of course transferred to Oregon State after spending the last three seasons playing for Swinney and the Tigers.
Swinney said Uiagalelei’s comments don’t change the way he feels about him.
“I love DJ,” Swinney said. “Nothing changed with that, and man I’m just pulling for him to do awesome, and I think he will.”
Uiagalelei shined in a couple of spot starts as a true freshman in 2020, but unfortunately, things didn’t quite pan out for him at Clemson over the next two seasons. The former five-star prospect struggled in his first full season as the starting quarterback in 2021 before having an up-and-down 2022 campaign that saw him ultimately lose the starting job to Cade Klubnik in the ACC Championship Game.
As a junior last season, Uiagalelei completed 62.1 percent of his passes for 2,521 yards and 22 touchdowns with seven interceptions while also rushing for 545 yards and seven more scores.
Uiagalelei went 22-6 as a starter at Clemson. Overall, in 36 games from 2020-22, he completed 59.8 percent of his passes for 5,681 yards and 36 touchdowns with 17 interceptions, to go with 275 career carries for 913 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground.
Swinney added Monday that he’s “proud” of Uiagalelei and is rooting for him as he starts the next chapter of his college career in Corvallis.
“He’s a graduate of Clemson,” Swinney said. “At the end of the day, it didn’t go as well as you’d hope. Sometimes that’s just life. But at the end of the day, he was 22-6 as a starter and had two double-overtime losses on the road and a one-point loss at home and a pick-six loss, one-score game against a national champion.
“So, it’s a very small margin for error, but he was 22-6 as a starter and part of two ACC Championship teams. Met hopefully his future wife here in Ava, sweet gal. I love DJ, and again, I’m pulling for him to do great things and I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t.”
Dear Old Clemson has added the Tiger Sack Pack to our online store. Save by getting the Two Pack of signed cards from two of the nation’s top defensive ends, Myles Murphy and Xavier Thomas.
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