DJ

Uiagalelei

Uiagalelei was elevated to back up Trey Lance in Week 18, but ultimately did not play at all in Los Angeles’ exhibition to tank into the No. 7 seed. He had a 67.0 PFF grade in 69 offensive preseason snaps this past offseason and could eventually become Los Angeles’ backup quarterback.

It will be Uiagalelei who backs up Trey Lance for the Week 18 finale against the Broncos.

Uiagalelei (6'4/250) struggled mightily in 2021, throwing for 2,246 yards, nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions. The junior quarterback is in need of a bounce-back season in 2022, especially with incoming freshman Cade Klubnik waiting in the wings. According to head coach Dabo Swinney, Uiagalelei is not the same quarterback we saw last season and is entering the season fully healthy. Uiagalelei reportedly also dealt with several injuries to his hand, including a strained PCL and a fractured finger on his throwing hand. It will be interesting to see how long a leash Uiagalelei has if he struggles early.

Uiagalelei (6'4/250) is in competition with freshman QB Cade Klubnik for this year’s starting role, and didn’t help himself in the spring game. The veteran QB once viewed as a Heisman Trophy contender failed to throw a touchdown, while completing just 47.2% of his passes. Klubnik appeared a little more polished, completing 15-of-23 passes for 106 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions. Uiagalelei had nine touchdown passes for 10 interceptions last season in 13 games, and has just 14 career touchdowns in 22 games.

Over the course of the season, you could tell that Uiagalelei (6'4/250) didn’t feel comfortable with the offense and what he was seeing. That continued in this game. While he was missing multiple receivers via injury and the transfer portal, Uiagalelei struggled finding receivers downfield, even with ample protection. His struggles were epitomized in the third quarter. He dropped back, escaped the pocket to the left avoiding pressure and threw a touch pass across his body. It was tipped and intercepted easily. The throw was ill-advised and likely would have been intercepted even if it wasn’t tipped. While he struggled all season, Uiagalelei led the Tigers to 10 wins on the season, but threw one more interception (10) than touchdowns (9).

This was the type of Clemson performance most pundits expected throughout the year, as Uiagalelei (6'4/250) connected on 11 of 19 passes including a touchdown and an interception. While a big part of the story was the Clemson defense limiting an explosive Demon Deacon offense, Uiagalelei did enough to help a balanced Tigers attack approach the 50-point mark. Four of those completions went to Collins, including a 58-yard touchdown that made the score 31-13. Clemson (8-3) has now completed ACC play and will need some help to make a seventh straight conference title game, including a loss by Wake Forest to Boston College and a loss from North Carolina in one of their final two games.

Uiagalelei (6'4/250) showed some struggles early on, including throwing an interception. He did, however, find a rhythm on the final drive of the first half. With 52 seconds left, Uiagalelei completed four of six passes for 88 yards, including hitting Beaux Collins on a beautiful fade route with just seconds left. It’s evident that the offense still has work to do, but there is still a lot to like about the future of Uiagalelei. Clemson hosts Wake Forest next Saturday.

Phommachanh (6'3/220) was injured during the first half and, during the break, HC Dabo Swinney told the sideline reporter that the redshirt freshman was unable to throw. That leaves starter DJ Uiagalelei as Clemson’s lone option, and he has been limited by a right knee injury.

Uiagalelei (6'4/250) was banged up in this game, and missed a few plays, with Taisun Phommachanh taking over. The latter tossed an incomplete pass while running four times for 33 yards before Uiagalelei checked back in. The latter scored on an 8-yard touchdown run with 4:12 remaining in regulation to put the Tigers ahead for good. Nobody thought it would be this hard before the season, but Clemson also attained bowl eligibility with the victory. The Tigers step out of conference next week, hosting UConn.

HC Dabo Swinney announced he was opening up the starting quarterback gig to competition between Taisun Phommacanh and Uiagalelei (6'4/250) in practice this past week, with the incumbent winning out and taking every snap against FSU. It was another middling performance from the former five-star QB, as two of Clemson’s four touchdowns were scored by way of fumble scoop and scores. Uiagalelei converted just four-of-fourteen third downs and turned the ball over three times in a sloppy, inefficient showing. However thanks to a ferocious defense shutting down the Noles, it was enough to pull out the victory. He has likely earned another start next week against Louisville.