What Clemson’s 5-star freshman QB has learned from Trevor Lawrence
As the top-ranked pro-style quarterback for the class of 2020, five-star prospect D.J. Uiagalelei had plenty of options in regards to where he would play college football.
They included most of the top programs in the country, such as Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State and Clemson.
The California native could have gone to a place where he would have had a good shot of earning the starting QB job as a true freshman. Instead, Uiagalelei did the opposite, going to a place where he knew he would have to wait his turn, barring an injury.
But Uiagalelei (pronounced ooh-ee-AHN-guh-luh-lay) views the chance to play behind Trevor Lawrence as a blessing and not a hindrance. The 6-foot-4, 250 pounder is learning everything he can from Lawrence in their one season together, before Lawrence leaves for the NFL.
“For me, if there was a quarterback like Trevor, coming here and being able to learn from him, that’s a bigger accomplishment than going into a place and starting Day 1,” Uiagalelei said. “I’m right behind the best quarterback in the country and the best player. For me, I get to pick his brain and see how he does it and just learn from him.”
Uiagalelei compares his situation now to the one Aaron Rodgers was in when the Packers quarterback was playing behind Brett Favre early in his NFL career.
Uiagalelei plans to soak up as much information as possible throughout the 2020 season, before a possible move into a starting role for 2021. His college career is already off to a strong start as he earned the backup quarterback job behind Lawrence and got his first action last Saturday against Wake Forest, completing 2 of 3 passes.
“Seeing him every day, the way he works, the different sacrifices he makes on the football field and off the football field. Just how he organizes his time. There’s a lot of great things I’ll try to take so I can get close to being as good of a player as he is,” Uiagalelei said, before sharing some specifics of what he has learned from Lawrence.
“I think some of the things is just the way he approaches the game. Right when he steps on the field it’s like he has a business mindset. Every single rep matters and every single rep counts. No matter if it’s a walk-thru rep, he makes sure that he’s accountable. … He takes it super seriously. He’s the leader on the team and everyone knows that. I want to be just like him with how accountable he is for the team.”
Uiagalelei originally signed with Clemson with the intention of playing football and baseball, but his plan is to focus solely on football, at least for now. He has been compared to Tigers great Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence since signing with the Tigers, and is anxious to continue the tradition of top QB recruits excelling at Clemson.
While he has regularly been put in the same category as Watson and Lawrence, it is another former Tiger who first introduced him to Clemson.
“It was definitely when Tajh Boyd was here. He was a quarterback and I was watching ESPN Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon. I was in maybe middle school. I remember one play they threw a bomb. I saw it on ESPN. They were just throwing bombs, like boom, boom, boom. I was like, ‘Man, this is the kind of offense I want to play in,’” Uiagalelei said.
And now he is.
“For me, I didn’t really look into who was the starting quarterback. I just wanted to find a program that fit what I was looking for.”
Next Clemson football game
Who: Clemson vs. Virginia
Where: Memorial Stadium in Clemson
When: Oct. 3, time TBD
TV: TBD
This story was originally published September 16, 2020 at 5:09 PM.
