Former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei sounds off on frustrations with program
Former Clemson football quarterback DJ Uiagalelei made it clear: His three years with coach Dabo Swinney’s program were a blessing.
But that didn’t stop Uiagalelei, now competing for the starting job at Oregon State, from detailing a number of frustrations with how some things went during his college career in Death Valley.
As part of a wide-ranging interview with The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman published Sunday, the normally mild-mannered Uiagalelei issued a number of pointed critiques about how Swinney and Clemson ran the offense and handled their quarterback situation – especially in 2022, a season that saw Uiagalelei transfer after losing his starting job to true freshman Cade Klubnik.
On the offense: “It was very basic.”
On getting benched against Notre Dame: “I was pissed.”
On what he described as a lack of trust from Swinney and staff: “You can feel that too as a player. You know sometimes how they call plays; like calling plays scared, timid. Not opening it up 100% because they don’t trust the quarterback. I felt that definitely at times.”
Uiagalelei quarterbacked Clemson to a 10-2 regular season record, ACC Atlantic Division title and conference championship game appearance in 2022 but ceded his starting position to Klubnik once and for all in the first quarter of that ACC title game against North Carolina.
Uiagalelei, who’s competing with returner Ben Gulbranson for Oregon State’s starting quarterback job, hadn’t made much news since transferring. But he took part in a number of interviews as the Beavers wrapped spring practice and hosted their spring game Saturday.
Uiagalelei addressed his time at Clemson in interviews with ESPN and JohnCanzano.com, but his candid comments to The Athletic’s Feldman drew the most reaction from those on social media.
“It was a blessing even though there was some stuff I wish would’ve went differently,” Uiagalelei told the website. “I wish I would’ve learned some different stuff; feel like I didn’t get developed as much as I wanted to.”
Coming out of high school in greater Los Angeles, Uiagalelei was widely regarded as a can’t-miss prospect and had enormous success as a true freshman playing in relief of star quarterback Trevor Lawrence, who missed two games in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic.
But Uiagalelei could never fully recapture that magic. In 2021, he threw nine touchdowns against 10 interceptions in 13 games as Clemson struggled mightily on offense and missed the College Football Playoff for the first time under Swinney after six straight appearances.
Frustrated with a scheme that, according to him, featured too many quarterback runs and not enough drop-back, play-action and deep pass plays, Uiagalelei said he considered transferring after his sophomore season.
He ultimately decided to “stick it out” and return in 2022 to play for a new offensive coordinator, Brandon Streeter, who was also Uiagalelei’s quarterbacks coach and lead recruiter in high school. Streeter replaced longtime OC Tony Elliott, who accepted Virginia’s head coaching job.
Up-and-down 2022 season
Uiagalelei was red hot through his first seven games of 2022 for Clemson — which debuted at No. 4 in the first College Football Playoff ranking of the season — and actually had the seventh-best odds among all college football players to win the Heisman Trophy in late October.
But Uiagalelei threw two interceptions and also had a goal-line fumble returned for a touchdown in a game against Syracuse. Klubnik replaced him midway through the third quarter and led three consecutive scoring drives to engineer an 11-point fourth quarter comeback win.
Uiagalelei told The Athletic that Clemson coaches were mostly open with him about the program’s unique quarterback situation and their long-term interest in Klubnik.
But “there were some times when I had no clue,” he said to Feldman. “Like in the Notre Dame game, I’m in there. I got down the field, we just had our biggest drive. I made some good throws, and they just pulled me, and I had no clue why. I was doing everything that they told me to do.”
In the third quarter of that loss to Notre Dame, which came a week after Klubnik replaced Uiagalelei against Syracuse, Uiagalelei had led Clemson on a nine-play, 42-yard drive (its longest of the night) before the offense stalled at midfield and punted down 14-0
Klubnik replaced Uiagalelei on Clemson’s next possession and threw an across-the-body interception on his first pass attempt from Clemson’s 7-yard line, setting up Notre Dame for a short touchdown to go up 21-0. The Fighting Irish ended up winning 35-14. Swinney said postgame Clemson made the quarterback change “to create a little spark.”
“(Swinney said), ‘I just want to get a spark,’ ” Uiagalelei told The Athletic. “I was pissed, like, ‘What do you mean a spark? We just had our best drive right there. I’m doing exactly what you’re telling me to do.’ ”
Uiagalelei set career highs in most major statistics in 2022, including 29 total touchdowns, but turned the ball over 10 times, with seven of those turnovers coming across his last six games.
After Clemson missed a second-straight CFP and lost to Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, Swinney fired Streeter after one season as offensive coordinator. He replaced him with Garrett Riley, who helped TCU reach the national championship game as OC and quarterbacks coach.
Uiagalelei — who finished his Clemson career 21-6 as a starter excluding the 2022 ACC title game — was critical of the program’s offensive scheme and said Oregon State’s offense under coach Jonathan Smith was better suited to help him eventually play professionally.
“I didn’t really like what we did there scheme-wise,” Uiagalelei told The Athletic. “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.”
This story was originally published April 24, 2023 at 1:36 PM with the headline "Former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei sounds off on frustrations with program."
