DJ Uiagalelei discusses offseason weight loss, how tough it was to give up sweets

Last year, DJ Uiagalelei weighed in at 265 pounds for Clemson. But a year later, he’s down 20-25 pounds — and he’s already seeing a difference on the field.

Uiagalelei, now 235 pounds, talked about when he decided to shed some pounds after a rollercoaster sophomore season with the Tigers. Clemson went 10-3 last season and punched its ticket to the Cheez-It Bowl, where the Tigers defeated Iowa State. But Uiagalelei, who threw for nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2021, knew he needed to make some changes.

That’s why he set a goal for himself for the offseason: lose weight.

“It’s been huge, man,” Uiagalelei said at ACC Kickoff on Wednesday. “I’m dropping a lot of weight. It was one of my big goals this offseason. For me, I felt like after the Cheez-It Bowl, I weighed myself, and I said, I’m a little too heavy coming off of it.’ So I wanted to get some weight down and be able to come into this year in the best shape of my life, so I could put my best foot forward.”

But one of the hardest parts of Uiagalelei’s weight loss journey was giving up sweets. He admitted to having a sweet tooth, which made that sacrifice hard for him as he changed his diet.

“Oh, man, I do love sweets,” Uiagalelei said. “That was one thing I [had] to cut out to lose a lot of weight. I stopped eating desserts, sweets.

“Probably haven’t ate one — I started eating one — I had to stop for, like, six months from January to June, I didn’t have any sweets. That was a big part.”

This year will be Uiagalelei’s second as the starter at Clemson after taking over for Trevor Lawrence. He had a rough go last season, but Dabo Swinney offered an impassioned defense of him in an interview with SiriusXM on Wednesday.

“My quarterback … this dude’s a freak,” Swinney said. “And people talk about him like he’s some slapdick from Eastaboga Community College and this guy can play the game at the highest level. He’s going to play the game at the highest level. And he wasn’t great last year. He was awesome as a freshman. He was awesome his whole career in high school. He’s a winner. He’s got all the tools, all the intangibles. But he is better because of what he went through.

“He’s had a lot of challenges and then, all of a sudden, we’ve got three different centers, we’ve got six OL, one’s a true freshman, a true freshman running back, all of our receivers are out. Now, he tries to do too much. He loses his confidence. The first time in his life he’s had to deal with some criticism. This guy ain’t never been criticized. He’s been the GOAT his [whole] life. Now, all of a sudden, he’s got MilkBone underwear on and they’re chomping at him everywhere he goes.”