JD Pickell: DJ Uiagalelei should be the guy at Clemson

Clemson didn’t have an ideal year according to their normal standards, and it also happened to be the first year that quarterback DJ Uiagalelei was their starter. Some may think that Uiagalelei was the problem, but On3’s JD PicKell thinks that he’s actually the solution.

“So here’s the deal, DJ Uiagalelei dropped 25 to 30 pounds this past offseason, came into Clemson as a 5-star quarterback out of St. John Bosco playing against some of the top competition in southern California, in the country, dude’s a baller. Dabo said as much, dude is a baller. Now, stumbled a little bit last season, we’re going to talk more about that, but he’s proven he can play before,” PicKell said.

Clemson has another quarterback 5 star quarterback in the wings with Cade Klubnik, who may add some add some good competition to the mix heading into Clemson’s fall camp, but who most aren’t expecting to be the week one starter.

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“Then you’ve got Cade Klubnik, who is an On3 consensus 5-star out of Austin West Lake, also playing against good competition, went to a high school that has proven they can groom quarterbacks. Cade Klubnik’s got the juice. Now the though with him is, we want to make sure he’s college ready physically. Came in at 179, Dabo said he’s up to 195 right now they’re really excited about his progress,” PicKell said.

Uiagalelei had some rocky moments last year as Clemson’s starter, but PicKell believes that had more to do with his supporting cast. In a season riddled with injury for the Tigers, Uiagalelei was one of only four players on either side of the ball that started every single game for Clemson last season. And he’s also showed some moments of greatness, that should be promising in the future once he’s properly protected and has a full arsenal of weapons.

“Now here’s the reason why I think DJ is your guy. First of all like I said, he’s proven it before. Now in 2021 he didn’t put a lot of great stuff on tape, there’s some reasons for that I believe, but he’s proven before the dude can play and he flashed at times last year,” PicKell said. “But against Notre Dame, he came in at Notre Dame, a number four ranked Notre Dame, and threw for over 400, two touchdowns, no picks. Talk about a high pressure situation, they still lost that game but not because of DJ Uiagalelei, the dude absolutely snapped on the road. For where he was at in his career at that point to play how he did should tell you a lot about DJ. Now I don’t believe that was a fluke, some of you may, I don’t believe that was a fluke.”