DJ Uiagalelei to Virginia? Analyzing the Possibility and the Fit

Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is in the transfer portal. Could he reunite with Tony Elliott at UVA?

This week saw college football players enter into the NCAA transfer portal by the hundreds. Among that endless stream of athletes looking for a new home were several quarterbacks, including a number of QBs from Power Five football programs. Having lost their own starting quarterback to the transfer portal, Tony Elliott and the Virginia Cavaliers will certainly be on the prowl in the portal looking for an experienced quarterback to bolster the position on the roster and compete for the starting job vacated by Brennan Armstrong. 

One of the names that has been tossed around a lot, though much of the talk is unfounded rumors, is DJ Uiagalelei, who entered the portal on Sunday after spending the last three years at Clemson, including the last two seasons as the starting quarterback for the Tigers. When Uiagalelei struggled at times throughout this season and Clemson brought in freshman Cade Klubnik for some stretches, the whispers began. Could DJ Uiagalelei reunite with his former offensive coordinator Tony Elliott and be the next quarterback at Virginia?

Those whispers became a little louder during the ACC Championship Game when Uiagalelei was benched after just two series in which the Tiges went three-and-out. Cade Klubnik came in and dominated, completing 20 of 24 passing attempts for 279 yards and two total touchdowns and earning MVP honors. Although Uiagalelei was a good teammate after the game and expressed joy for Klubnik for his performance in leading Clemson to the ACC title, the writing was clearly on the wall. So, it was no surprise when Uiagalelei officially announced his intention to enter the transfer portal the next day. 

Forever Thankful 🧡💜 pic.twitter.com/EVgNLBvKAj

— DJ Uiagalelei (@DJUiagalelei) December 5, 2022

Thus, the speculation began as to where DJ Uiagalelei would end up next. Even though Uiagalelei fell short of his sky-high expectations coming out of high school as the top quarterback in his class and the successor to Trevor Lawrence, his resume during his relative "struggles" at Clemson still make him one of the top quarterbacks available in the transfer portal and his services are sure to be in high demand. 

In 36 total games played, including 28 starts, Uiagalelei threw for 5,681 yards and 36 touchdowns to 17 interceptions with a completion percentage of 59.8%. He had a 22-6 record as the starter. At many programs, that's the type of record that'll get your number retired. But not at Clemson, where back-to-back 10-win seasons weren't nearly enough to make up for the fact that the Tigers missed the College Football Playoff for two-straight years after making it to the CFP six seasons in a row. 

Uiagalelei's three seasons at Clemson were quite the roller coaster and exploring that part of his story will help understand the potential fit for him at Virginia alongside his former offensive coordinator Tony Elliott. Uiagalelei started two games as a true freshman in 2020 when Trevor Lawrence entered COVID-19 protocols. He passed for 342 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Boston College and then delivered a heroic performance in a double-overtime loss at Notre Dame, throwing for 439 yards and two touchdowns. That performance alone was enough for many to see that Uiagalelei would have no problem taking the torch when Trevor Lawrence went to the NFL after that season. 

Uiagalelei became the full-time starter in 2021 and that's when things started to fall apart. In the season opener, Clemson failed to score a touchdown in a 10-3 loss to Georgia in a game which served as a microcosm for the offensive struggles the Tigers would have all season. Uiagalelei's completion percentage fell to 55.6% and he threw more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (9). The Tigers were held to less than 20 points in five of their first seven games and lost three of those games, matching their combined number of losses over the previous three seasons. 

The Clemson offense took the lion's share of the blame for the losses; in particular DJ Uiagalelei for his shaky quarterback play and Tony Elliott for his inability to push the right buttons to get the talented Clemson offense to put more points on the board. In those moments of duress and criticism, Elliott and Uiagalelei had each other's backs. 

When asked about how DJ Uiagalelei was shouldering the responsibility for a loss to NC State on September 27th, 2021, Tony Elliott said, "That's the type of young man that he is and he understands the magnitude of the position that he's in. You get a lot of the credit, but you get a lot of the blame too... I think he understands that. He knows that that's the right thing to do, but it's not all on his shoulders. There's things that I can do better from a coaching staff standpoint; we can all do things better. You know each individual player can do things better. So it's not all on him."

That same day, DJ Uiagalelei defended Tony Elliott, saying, "Coach Elliott, he's definitely not the problem. It all starts with us. Coach Elliott is the best offensive coordinator in football. I'm going to stand by it. I love that guy. The amount of work he puts in every week, day in and day out, it's unbelievable and I'll ride with Tony Elliott until the day I die. I've got full confidence in Coach Elliott."

To their credit, Uiagalelei, Tony Elliott, and the Clemson offense improved as the season wore on. The Tigers scored 30 or more points in each of their last five games of the regular season to finish 9-3. Tony Elliott would end up leaving the team before the bowl game, accepting the head coaching job at Virginia on December 10th. 

Almost exactly a year later, DJ Uiagalelei is in the transfer portal looking for a new home at the same time that Tony Elliott is perusing the transfer portal looking for a new quarterback. It's difficult not to at least consider the possibility of a reunion when you read the above quotes that prove the strong relationship that existed between Uiagalelei and Elliott in their time together at Clemson. 

Uiagalelei's 2022 season at Clemson was marginally better, as he completed 61.9% of his passes for 2,521 yards and threw 22 touchdowns to just seven interceptions, improvements across the board in each of those categories over his stats in 2021. But it wasn't enough to hold off the calls for true freshman Cade Klubnik to get chances on the field. After the regular season ended with an embarrassment of a loss to South Carolina, everyone knew that DJ Uiagalelei's leash in the ACC title game would be very short. Two-straight three-and-outs to start the game sealed the deal and Dabo Swinney pulled the trigger on Cade Klubnik, effectively ending DJ Uiagalelei's time at Clemson. 

So, could Uiagalelei actually transfer to Virginia? Sure. In fact, many college football reporters and recruiting experts consider UVA to be one of the more feasible landing spots given Uiagalelei's prior connection to Tony Elliott. In this vibrant age of sports betting, the gambling site bookies.com even put out odds for where Uiagalelei will land, listing Virginia as the third-most likely destination at +500 (16.67% probability) behind Oregon and UCLA. 

Yes, Uiagalelei struggled to meet the hype at Clemson, but his inability to live up to a standard set by Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence doesn't make him a bad quarterback. His struggles with Tony Elliott as his offensive coordinator do not ensure that he's doomed to fail if he reunites with Elliott at UVA either. With Elliott in complete control of the football program at Virginia, there's an argument that he's in a better position now to help Uiagalelei succeed than he was at Clemson. Plus, there's still a chance that Elliott and Uiagalelei can figure out how to recapture the magic from 2020, when Uiagalelei fielded two stellar performances in the two starts he had when Trevor Lawrence was out. Uiagalelei was the No. 1-ranked pro-style quarterback coming out of high school. That's the same style of offense Tony Elliott is trying to establish at Virginia that has caused so much controversy since it didn't work out with Brennan Armstrong, who clearly operates better in a spread offense. What better place for Uiagalelei to get a fresh start than a program with significantly lower expectations, an offensive system that fits his quarterback style, and a very familiar face at head coach leading the way. 

With that said, it likely won't happen. DJ Uiagalelei will have better suitors and NIL will probably be a factor. He will likely end up going somewhere with a more talented roster and a more established coach and program and he'll be very tempted to go out west to a school like UCLA or Oregon, so he can be closer to his hometown in California. But, it's fun to think these things out. What else are we going to do during the offseason? 

Sure, UVA has quarterbacks on its roster right now. But, the opportunity to have a former five-star recruit who went 22-6 as the starter at one of the top programs in the country probably beats out Jay Woolfolk, who's still on the fence between football and baseball, and any of the underclassmen quarterbacks, who probably aren't quite ready yet. Chances are that the starting quarterback at Virginia in 2023 is going to be a transfer and DJ Uiagalelei is likely the best one UVA could hope to get. 

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