Can DJ Uiagalelei pick up where Trevor Lawrence left off for Clemson?

The Clemson Tigers are about to enter a new era on the football field. Three-year star quarterback Trevor Lawrence is now a Jacksonville Jaguar, and DJ Uiagalelei gets his shot at being the full-time starter for the first time in his collegiate career. Matt Leinart thinks that Clemson is in a position to simply continue their previous success with Uiagalelei at the helm of the offense.

Replacing Lawrence will be hard, but Uiagalelei could be just as good

In his Clemson career, Lawrence completed 758-of-1138 passes with 10,098 yards, 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He also ran for 943 yards and 18 touchdowns. Lawrence was the Heisman runner-up in 2020. He led Clemson to a national championship as a freshman in 2018.

It might seem nearly impossible to replace a player of Lawrence’s caliber. Former USC and NFL quarterback Matt Leinart thinks that Uiagalelei is good enough to do that. Leinart has been in a similar situation as Uiagalelei. At USC, he replaced Heisman winner and first-overall pick Carson Palmer. Leinart played his way into being a first-round pick, selected by the Arizona Cardinals 10^th overall. He thinks that Uiagalelei is going to pick up right where Lawrence left off.

“I absolutely think he will,” Leinart said. “It’s actually similar in a way to my situation where Carson Palmer was the Heisman Trophy winner the year before and the number one draft pick. I remember just mentally, ‘Oh crap, these are some monster shoes to fill.’ Just the expectations, the pressure. I think the difference in this situation is we saw DJ be great in two games last year against Notre Dame and Boston College.”

Uiagalelei starred in his two starts last season

With Lawrence sidelined due to COVID, Uiagalelei was inserted into the starting lineup for two games. In his first collegiate start, he threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns, adding another score on the ground. Clemson defeated Boston College in a come from behind, 34-28 victory. The following week, the Tigers traveled to take on Notre Dame, who was ranked fourth in the country at the time. Uiagalelei still played extremely well against a good opponent, throwing for 439 yards and accounting for three total touchdowns.

He has attempted 117 passes in his career, but Uiagalelei has not thrown an interception. He showed in his two starts last year that he has elite upside right away.

“We saw a small sample size, but we saw him absolutely flourish,” Leinart said. “Nine total touchdowns, no takeaways. Obviously the lost to Notre Dame who ended up going to the playoff. But he had the come from behind win against Boston College. This is a kid with the mental capacity and the pedigree to be able to handle this type of situation.

“He played high school football at one of the top programs in the country. Played against top teams on TV every year. He’s taken that mindset and taken it to Clemson. I don’t want to say that he’ll have a better year than Trevor Lawrence – Trevor won a national championship and obviously is a generational talent – but DJ is phenomenal.”