Clemson Football: Dabo Swinney on DJ Uiagalelei as a leader

The Clemson Tigers are counting on DJ Uiagalelei to lead them through a new era for the program. With Trevor Lawrence moving on to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Tigers are officially Uiagalelei’s team to command.

Dabo Swinney’s seen tremendous leaders at the quarterback position for his teams, like Lawrence, Deshaun Watson and Tajh Boyd. As the 2021 season approaches, the man who brought two national championships to Clemson spoke on the strides Uiagalelei’s making as a leader.

“He’s had a good camp. One of the reasons we try to script practice the way we do is to really challenge the quarterback because he’s gotta manage the game,” said Swinney, per Clemson Sports Information on YouTube. “It’s not fair to expect to do certain things if you don’t expose him to those things in practice.

“He’s a great leader. Everybody has confidence in him, he makes others around him better. He loves it, he loves to compete and he loves to prepare. Obviously, he’s got the great skills to go with it. So he’s had a good camp, but he’s like everybody else – grinding every single day to get better.”

Dabo Swinney praises DJ Uiagalelei

Last week, Swinney praised Uiagalelei’s confidence, day-to-day presence and his ability to limit mistakes. Evidently, the head coach is excited about the potential of his quarterback. 

“You can just see it in his confidence, his knowledge. He doesn’t make many mistakes,” Swinney said.” He didn’t make many last year. There are even fewer this year. It’s just the look in his eye. 

“The day to day presence we see, how he handles himself, how he does things he does in meetings, his questions. . He’s not showing up here and watching tape. He’s already seen the tape. Those are the types of things that excite you as a coach, when you get a guy that is as invested as you are.”

DJ Uiagalelei on facing Georgia

The first official game of the Uiagalelei era for Clemson will come against the Georgia Bulldogs. With a win, the quarterback can set a tone that even though Lawrence may be gone, the Tigers are still an elite team with him at the helm.

Still, Clemson’s starting quarterback isn’t taking the Bulldogs’ defense lightly in his preparation.

“I’ve looked at Georgia. They have a great defense, a lot of people coming back, they are great up front,” Uiagalelei said, via a video on Clemson’s YouTube page. “They have a great secondary, a lot of transfers coming in. It’s going to be a great game.

“I think for the most part, we are all just excited to play the first game. Knowing we have a quality opponent in Georgia and a high-caliber team, I think it just makes it that more fun going through camp.”

Dabo Swinney has never backed down from a challenge, and he’s instilling that same mentality into DJ Uiagalelei. The quarterback’s poise, leadership ability and ridiculous skill set has been on display all summer, and next month the entire nation will see what Swinney raves about.

On3’s Sean Labar contributed to this article.

Image courtesy of Matt Cashore-Pool / Getty Images