Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei plans to enter NCAA transfer portal

Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei plans to enter the Transfer Portal, multiple sources have indicated to On3.

A two-year starting quarterback for the Tigers, Uiagalelei burst onto the scene as a freshman backup for Trevor Lawrence. With Lawrence out with COVID, Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards and two passing touchdowns in his second career start under the light at Notre Dame Stadium against Notre Dame. The Tigers lost 47-40 in double overtime but Uiagalelei’s performance was regarded as one of the best of the season.

In the ACC title game on Saturday night, the quarterback started the game with back-to-back 3-and-outs. Freshman Cade Klubnik played the remainder of the night, finishing 20 of 24 for 279 yards and a touchdown.

It’s clear where the future lies at Clemson.

“DJ, he’s a special person. He handles everything the right way,” Dabo Swinney said following Clemson’s 39-10 in the ACC title. “He handles everything with class; he understood.”

As a sophomore, Uiagalelei threw for 2,246 yards with nine touchdowns in 13 starts. Clemson went 10-3, missing the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2014.

He played high school football at Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco, where he was a five-star prospect. He was the No. 12 overall recruit and No. 2 in the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.