Tony Elliott Compares Clemson QB D.J. Uiagalelei to Watson, Mahomes

Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott has confidence in freshman QB D.J. Uiagalelei after watching him lead the Tigers back from an 18-point deficit.

With Trevor Lawrence being unavailable on Saturday, Clemson fans got an early glimpse of what the future will look like once the junior quarterback is off to the NFL. 

D.J. Uiagalelei made the first start of his college career for the Tigers on Saturday and the freshman signal-caller did not disappoint, throwing for more than 340 yards and completing 73 percent of his passes in helping lead Clemson back from an 18-point deficit in a 34-28 win.  

Despite the fact that Uiagalelei was making his first career start, offensive coordinator Tony Elliott says the performance did not surprise him. Elliott even went as far as comparing the freshman to some of the sport's best players at the quarterback position over the last few years. 

"That's stuff that we've seen him do, I mean he has that knack," Elliott said. "I've described him and compared him to (former Clemson star) Deshaun (Watson) with that quiet confidence, you know. He never gets rattled, he's got the ice water in his veins. He's got a little bit of (Patrick) Mahomes in him because he can make a majority of the throws on his back foot. He can make them off-balance, he can change arm angles, and then he has the rifle-arm like Trevor."

Elliott says that halfway through his first season, the young freshman has given the coaching staff every reason to have confidence in his ability and that outside of a couple of throws, Uiagalelei delivered as expected in his first start.

"It seems like the more we challenge him in practice, the more we put on his plate, he's never been overwhelmed," Elliott said. "So that gave us confidence there. With the exception of the couple of out-routes that he missed, was a little bit high on that you know, I thought he was relatively accurate."

The Clemson offensive coordinator says he has no problem admitting to the fact that the stellar quarterback play at Clemson in recent years has spoiled him and that he and the rest of the coaching staff knew that Uiagalelei would have no issues reaching the high bar that had been set by the quarterbacks that came before him.

"We're kind of spoiled here," Elliott said. "I can speak for myself and say I'm spoiled to have had Deshaun and then Trevor and to see how those guys responded as freshmen. I mean they didn't respond like typical freshmen and then you see D.J. coming along in those same footsteps. I didn't see anything other than I felt really good because he was confident, man, and he was excited. He was ready for his opportunity and as we saw it from the day he walked in here."

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page.

Also, be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter.