After showing marked improvement during the first half of the season, D.J. Uiagalelei’s dropoff has been swift.
Clemson’s quarterback spent the first seven games regaining his confidence following a forgettable 2021 season. Uiagalelei accounted for 21 touchdowns and just three turnovers in those games, showing better decisiveness and accuracy as a passer while emerging as a legitimate running threat.
His last two performances have been on the other end of the spectrum.
Uiagalelei has accounted for four turnovers and just one touchdown in Clemson’s last eight quarters, averaging 164.5 passing yards in those games. Two of those turnovers led directly to points for the opposition, one being a 90-yard scoop and score for Syracuse and the other a 96-yard pick-six in Notre Dame’s rout last week.
Uiagalelei was benched in both games for true freshman Cade Klubnik, who finished the Syracuse game after coming on in the third quarter. Uiagalelei is in line to start against Louisville this weekend after coming back against Notre Dame and leading a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown drives, but Clemson coach Dabo Swinney has suggested the leash will be a shorter one come Saturday afternoon.
Tight ends coach Kyle Richardson, who also works with Uiagalelei as the passing-game coordinator, shared his thoughts earlier this week on what he believes is contributing to the funk Uiagalelei suddenly finds himself in.
“D.J. is the type of kid that he doesn’t want to let people down, and he puts a lot of pressure on himself because of that,” Richardson said. “So I think in some of those situations, he’s looking for the perfect look. He’s looking for the perfect read. He’s looking for the perfect throw, the perfect play. And that just doesn’t exist in football. There’s too much stuff going on offensively that he doesn’t control and that coaches don’t control. And there’s too much going on defensively that nobody controls on the field.”
When Uiagalelei hasn’t been throwing errant passes, some of his indecisiveness has led to sacks that have effectively ended drives for the Tigers. Notre Dame got to him for four sacks last week, many of which Swinney chalked up to coverages sacks that could have been avoided if Uiagalelei had thrown the ball away and lived to play another down.
Richardson said there were times where he asked Uiagalelei what he was seeing once he got back to the sideline after some of those plays. Sometimes what Uiagalelei is seeing on the field and what the coaches are seeing from the sideline are different, so there are times, Richardson said, where Uiagalelei is making the right decision whether it be where he delivers the ball on a called pass play or whether or not to throw it, hand it off or keep it on a run-pass option (RPO).
Of course, those are all split-second decisions that have to be made, something Richardson understands given his background. He coached quarterbacks as a highly successful prep coach at Northwestern High in Rock Hill before initially moving on to Clemson as an offensive support staffer in 2016.
“It’s a really tough position to play,” said Richardson, who coached NFL quarterback Mason Rudolph at Northwestern and worked with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence at Clemson. “It’s a tough position physically but mentally it’s tougher than any position. So there’s a fine line where you’re not in his head too much and you’re not predetermining how to throw balls and the reads that have to be made because you can’t do that at quarterback. You’ve got to see what’s happening live and you’ve got to see it post-snap.”
It’s not like Uiagalelei hasn’t shown he’s capable of performing at a much higher level. It was just seven weeks ago that he lit up Wake Forest for 371 passing yards and five touchdowns, matching the Demon Deacons score for score in a double-overtime win.
Richardson said coaches can help him, too, by putting him in some better situations. But more than anything, Richardson said, Uiagalelei has to forget about trying to be a perfectionist, trust what he’s seeing on the field and get back to letting it rip.
“That’s probably the biggest thing,” Richardson said. “He’s got to trust himself and trust what he does at practice every day because if he wasn’t the guy, he wouldn’t be playing. He wouldn’t be at this level. He wouldn’t be at Clemson. He wouldn’t have gone to Notre Dame two years ago and did what he did then. He can do it. He’s just got to trust himself, trust his reads and trust his coaching.”
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