Dabo Swinney addresses DJ Uiagalelei's future with Clemson

A new era began at Clemson Saturday night as Cade Klubnik led the Tigers to a 39-10 blowout win over North Carolina in the ACC Championship game. Head coach Dabo Swinney did not shy away when asked about the future of the quarterback room after Klubnik replaced former starter DJ Uiagalelei after the third series of the game.

“Moving forward, Cade will be the starter going in and DJ will be the backup,” Swinney said after the game. “We’ll keep moving forward, and I’m sure there will be plenty of conversations – [DJ] graduates in a week or so, so he’s got a bright future. He’s got a bright future. Obviously it didn’t end tonight the way he would like, but he’s got a bright, bright future as a football player.

“He’s a guy that always have a special place in my heart because nobody has ever worked harder, nobody has ever been more respected in this program. These guys love DJ, and I do, too.”

Uiagalelei only threw five passes in the ACC title game, including one incompletion on a simple out route that he threw right into the ground. It was time for a change, and Klubnik delivered. Completing 20 of his 24 passes, the true freshman threw for 279 yards and a touchdown while adding 30 more yards and another score on the ground.

The obvious looming decision for Uiagalelei – enter the transfer portal or be Klubnik’s backup. I think we all know the answer to that.

“DJ, he’s a special person. He handles everything the right way. He handles everything with class. He understood and knew – [OC Brandon] Streeter and I talked to both of them, as well,” Swinney said of Uiagalelei’s benching. “We hoped that he’d play well, but he didn’t have a great series, especially the first series there. But we stuck with the plan, and then the rest is history. You’ve got to give credit to Cade for that. He kind of came in and took it, and it happened.”

Despite Uiagalelei’s woes under center throughout his Clemson career, he still led the Tigers to back-to-back 10-win seasons and made major strides to improve over the offseason. When it inevitably comes time for the former QB1 to make a decision on the future, there’s no question dozens of teams would be over the moon to have him on their roster.