DJ Uiagalelei ‘is a great football player’ – just ask Dabo Swinney

The ACC named Clemson junior DJ Uiagalelei the conference Quarterback of the Week on Monday, which is interesting because Uiagalelei wasn’t even the best quarterback at Truist Field last Saturday.

Look at the numbers from Clemson’s 51-45, double-overtime victory over Wake Forest:

+ Uiagalelei: 26-of-41 (63.4 percent), 371 yards, five TDs, 179.7 efficiency rating, 87.2 QBR, 52 yards rushing

+ Sam Hartman: 20-of-29 (68.9 percent), 337 yards, six TDS, 234.9 efficiency rating, 91.4 QBR, 10 yards rushing

To the victor go the spoils, and all that. Perhaps Uiagalelei won not because he outplayed Hartman but because he outplayed Uiagalelei, circa 2021. “The Reclamation of DJ Uiagalelei” is one of the early storylines of the season. It speaks to all that we hold dear about sports in general and college football in particular – accomplishment, redemption, loyalty. Especially loyalty. And it speaks to the essence of Clemson’s coach.

Dabo Swinney values loyalty the way he values a crisp pass route. Swinney promotes from within. He all but sneers at the transfer portal. He inculcates his beliefs, his Xs and his Os, his brand of Clemson football into the freshmen he recruits. He wants them to feel part of the Tiger family. If they give him their best for as long as they’re at Clemson, he gives them his loyalty. Swinney believes it’s the most meaningful gift he can offer.

When asked after the game Saturday about Uiagalelei’s performance, Swinney spoke passionately and for more than three minutes. True, Swinney will speak passionately and for more than three minutes about that tree over there, or his sandwich, or what passes for traffic in Clemson. But Swinney wanted to make sure the world knew how much confidence he had in Uiagalelei. I’m guessing he has made sure the quarterback knew it, too, during the tumult of the past 13 months.

“I just know who he is,” Swinney said. “I know what I see. I know how talented this kid is. This is not” – he landed hard on the next word to make his sarcasm clear – “theory. It’s not some pie in the sky. I’ve watched him. I flew across country to recruit this kid. He is a great football player who had a bad year.”

Uiagalelei, a southern California native, began last season with the burden of replacing Trevor Lawrence, the first pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Clemson fans had complete faith in him. As a freshman in 2020, Uiagalelei filled in for Lawrence and threw for 439 yards and two touchdowns in a double-overtime loss at No. 4 Notre Dame. The following week, he threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Boston College.

Uiagalelei heard himself touted as a Heisman candidate before he ever held a starting job. When the NCAA suddenly allowed NIL deals before last season, Dr Pepper made Uiagalelei the soft drink’s first active player in its Fansville ads.

And then came Clemson’s opener against Georgia, which turned out to be a pretty good team. Georgia batted down his pass on the Tigers’ first snap and sacked him on their second. Uiagalelei appeared unnerved not only by the Dawg defense, which sacked him seven times, but by the sold-out Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte. As a freshman, Uiagalelei had played in front of sparse, COVID-reduced crowds.

Clemson lost that game 10-3, and lost a lot more in the playing of it. Uiagalelei never recovered his confidence. He never got better. He struggled all season. You could watch him second-guess himself in real time, his wheels turning as he tried to solve the defensive puzzle before him. And Swinney never wavered publicly in his support of Uiagalelei.

That’s easier to do when you have led a football-crazed, historically frustrated fan base on its greatest ride ever. But Swinney never sounded at it as if he were dipping into his bank of goodwill. Uiagalelei is one of his players. He worked hard. Swinney had seen him succeed. The coach waited for Uiagalelei to figure it out.

“All these people forget about him, written him off, like he’s some terrible player,” Swinney said. “He’s not. We weren’t very good around him and he got in a bad spot mentally. It’s so good to see him where he is right now. He’s an unquestioned leader with complete belief, and he’s just kind of got his mojo back.”

That’s who Swinney is. He’s an overseller. Hartman played better Saturday than Uiagalelei. He completed a higher percentage of his throws while under a fiercer rush. Uiagalelei has become a good quarterback who will never be the instinctive player that Lawrence or Deshaun Watson was when they won national championships at Clemson. He is moving better this season, playing 30 pounds lighter than he did last season. But he still doesn’t see the whole field as quickly as you expect a guy who has started 19 games to see it.

And Swinney will have none of it.

“After four games, if you don’t recognize this kid’s special ability, then you’re blind. And you just want something else to write about,” Swinney said Saturday. “This kid is special. Hopefully everybody can tear up all them articles that you’ve written. Or take some ownership for them at this point. This kid deserves it. He’s a winner. He’s the unquestioned leader on this team.

“I would never as the head coach stand up for something like that if I didn’t see it every day.”

I’m not saying that no other coach could have nurtured Uiagalelei from last season’s problems to ACC Quarterback of the Week. But this one landed right in Dabo’s wheelhouse. I just know who he is.