Last season was a tumultuous one for Clemson’s offense. And no one took more of the criticism from those outside the walls of the Tigers’ football facilities than D.J. Uiagalalei.
It’s a pretty standard order of operation when it comes to football, as Clemson coach Dabo Swinney admitted. He also acknowledged the starting quarterback also receives the bulk of the praise when things are going well, though that was rarely the case last season as Clemson saw a precipitous dropoff in offensive production.
Uiagalelei struggled to a 55% completion percentage – second-lowest among ACC starters – with more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9), though Swinney was again quick to make the point that, between injuries and ineffectiveness at other positions, Uiagalelei’s supporting cast wasn’t blameless. Swinney brought it up again following the Tigers’ first preseason scrimmage Saturday at Memorial Stadium because, this time, it was a different story.
“When all (of the help) ain’t good, does that make the quarterback better or worse?” Swinney asked rhetorically before answering his own question. “Worse. Exactly. This ain’t rocket science. It affects their confidence and all those things, and then the quarterback starts trying to do too much.”
More times than not, that wasn’t the case Saturday, said Swinney, who added that the offense held the upper-hand in the scrimmage. The unit earned collective praise from Swinney, who was particularly pleased with Uiagalelei and his backup, five-star signee Cade Klubnik, especially when it came to their ability to improvise.
Swinney said Uiagalelei, who dropped roughly 30 pounds during the offseason, made “two or three big plays” on the run while Klubnik was responsible for a couple of touchdowns during red-zone and goal-line work.
“Good to see the quarterbacks making plays with their legs, both running it and extending plays,” Swinney said.
The signal callers weren’t perfect. Swinney said each had their off moments, adding that Klubnik had a “critical mistake” without divulging details. Safeties Andrew Mukuba and R.J. Mickens each had an interception, though Swinney didn’t say which quarterbacks threw the picks or if those were the only turnovers on the day.
And there were times where Klubnik’s youth showed up. Swinney said there were a couple of instances where the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder took sacks when he should’ve thrown the ball away. Swinney said it’s part of the learning process for the fleet-footed freshman as Klubnik continues to get acclimated to the college game.
“He’s learning that we’ve got other fast people, too, that can also run,” Swinney said. “He got away with a lot in high school where there just were not many guys that could run with him. But we’ve got some dudes on the other side of the ball, and they can run a little bit, too.”
Part of trying to make those plays comes from increased confidence in their supporting cast making plays around them, Swinney said. Swinney praised all of the skill position groups for their consistency during the scrimmage and noted he could only remember one dropped pass among the receivers. He singled out Joseph Ngata in particular for a handful of plays he made to help the passing game.
There wasn’t much of that to speak of a season ago, something Swinney is hoping the scrimmage was a sign of changing this fall.
“It’s fun to see our quarterbacks starting to have just a little calmness to them because we’re better around them,” he said. “We’re playing physical, and it’s good to see.”
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