D.J. Uiagalelei didn’t hesitate when the question was posed.
After Clemson’s second spring practice Friday – and more than two months removed from his first season as the Tigers’ starting quarterback – Uiagalelei admitted the 2021 season was the toughest he’s experienced as a football player.
“It definitely was,” Uiagalelei said. “All the stuff going through it. All the adversity and just not coming out what you want as planned.”
Clemson still won 10 games for the 11th straight season, but with a string of six straight College Football Playoff appearances coming to an end, not winning a national title admittedly left him with mixed feelings. Individually, Uiagalelei took the brunt of the criticism from those who watched from afar as Clemson’s offense struggled to replicate the explosion it routinely flashed with Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence behind center.
Uiagalelei finished the season with the second-lowest completion rate among ACC starting quarterbacks (55.6%) and threw more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (9). He was temporarily benched after tossing a pair of picks against Pittsburgh in late October before finishing out the game and the season.
Yet Uiagalelei doesn’t view everything that happened through a prism of negativity. Having a couple of months to reflect on it, Uiagalelei said he’s thankful for the good and the bad that transpired last fall.
“I feel like it was a blessing in disguise almost,” Uiagalelei said. “The goal is not to go 10-3. It’s to win a national championship every single year. But looking back at it from a different perspective, it was definitely a year for me to be able to grow. Learn from different stuff. Learn through adversity. Just to go through different challenges where it’s going to bring you out as a better person on the other side.”
Among the primary takeaways for Uiagalelei was that what he got away with as a blue-chip high school prospect at California’s St. John Bosco and even in limited action as a true freshman in 2020 wasn’t going to work over the course of a full season in college. Specifically, his mechanics needed tightening up, something he said quarterbacks coach and new offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter spoke with him about during a brainstorming session early in the offseason.
“Throwing on the run, making sure my feet were underneath me, shorten up my stroke, being more consistent than being off balance,” Uiagalelei said. “Just different platform stuff.”
NCAA rules forbid coaches from putting players through on-field drills unless it’s a team practice, so Uiagalelei worked with 3DQB, a training consultant team based in Huntington Beach, California. Uiagalelei recently participated in a 3DQB camp in Texas with other college quarterbacks and receivers.
“We just worked on that stuff,” Uiagalelei said.
As for his health, Uiagalelei is still wearing a brace on the right knee he sprained late last season. He also played the last few games with an injured index finger on his throwing hand, but the down time has given both time to heal.
“Knee is getting better. It’s almost 100 percent,” Uiagalelei said. “Finger is 100%. Everything has been going good.”
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