With two of Clemson’s biggest games in the rearview mirror, the Tigers are now looking ahead to Boston College this coming weekend.
It has been almost two years since Boston College was DJ Uiagalelei’s first ever career start as a Tiger, due to Trevor Lawerence testing positive for COVID-19.
Despite the circumstances and abrupt start, Uiagalelei went 30 for 41, threw for 341 yards, and 2 touchdowns, and ran for one as well. Since that day back in October of 2020, Uiagalelei believes he has grown a lot as a player and as a person.
“That was definitely a crazy day when I found that out…it was definitely a surreal moment, I had no clue but was a cool start for my first start.” said Uiagalelei Monday “I think I have grown a lot since then, definitely physically, mentally, I think I am a completely different person that who I was two years ago.”
Heading into Boston College, Uiagalelei says that the offense and team as a whole have done a great job at treating every game the same as the last, and never giving more value to certain games over others.
“I think the mindset that we have on this team, you know that each and every week is the biggest game, it doesn’t matter who we play, and the main thing for us is to be able to get better.” said Uiagalelei “We have a lot of stuff to grow on from last week we did a lot of good things… and we just want to come out there every week and just continue to get better.”
Two weeks ago against Wake Forest was arguably the worst defensive performance so far this season. However, one week later K.J. Henry and the defensive line completely shut down Devan Leary at the line of scrimmage, along with the rest of the Wolfpack in Death Valley. Uiagalelei was not shocked by the defense’s ability to bounce back quickly after a rough performance because he sees exactly what they are capable of every single day in practice.
“I wasn’t surprised at all the way they played, I see it every day in practice, through the summer, through the fall, through the first couple games and even against Wake (Forest) they made plays when it mattered… and against N.C. State they did a good job keeping them out of the endzone by making stops and making plays.”
Following a stellar performance in the air and on the ground last Saturday, Uiagalelei attributes a lot of the offense’s success compared to last year to them just having more fun out on the field.
“I think we are definitely having more fun out there, I think you can see that in the way that we play,” Uiagalelei said with a smile “We just keep growing each and every game, there’s a lot of room for improvement still, but we are doing a lot of great things on offense.”
Even with the progression from last year and throughout the first five games, there are still things the offense needs to work on. One of those is finishing drives with 7-points rather than three.
“We have to be able to finish more in the red zone, that was a big thing, we finished with a couple of field goals… but we want to be able to score touchdowns.”
Going up against the veteran and physical defense of Boston College, Uiagalelei knows that finishing in the redzone is going to be a pivotal point of play, and one way Uiagalelei and offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter are hoping to do this is by continuing to work in the tight-ends.
“They are a super physical defense, I feel like the last two times we played them they were real physical and guys that are just great football players.. They are all physical, they can all run.. And they have a lot of veterans in this defensive group.” said Uiagalelei “I think one thing we’ve done well is utilizing the tight ends that we have and Coach Streeter has done that by just getting in different play calls for them in the red zone, they’re big bodies they can get up there and grab the ball.”
Looking back at this time last season, Uiagalelei is grateful to be in the position they are in as one of the last two unbeaten teams in the Atlantic and to be in control of their future.
“You want to be able to control your own destiny… take it one game at a time, you always want to be looking at the finish line but you don’t want to get too focused on that…but it is a lot nicer than last year to be able to be undefeated at this point in the season.”
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