DJ Uiagalelei had 'great week' of practice during Clemson bye

DJ Uiagalelei is looking to bounce back in a big way when Clemson travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame this weekend.

The Clemson coaching staff feels good about the practices he had during Clemson’s bye last week as Uiagalelei works to rebound from his worst performance of the season in Clemson’s most recent game against Syracuse.

“He had a great week of practice. Just bounced back like I thought he was gonna,” Tigers offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter said. “Just excited for him being able to go back out there on Saturday.”

Uiagalelei watched the tape of the Syracuse game the day after the Tigers had to rally for the win and flushed the performance to start preparing for Notre Dame.

From watching film, the California native believes he knows what led to the three-turnover game against the Orange.

“The biggest thing was decision making. I feel like there were some decisions I never should have made – put some balls in jeopardy,” Uiagalelei said. “I figured out what I did wrong – stuff I can work on and be able to improve that and make sure that doesn’t happen again. I feel like I’ve definitely moved on from that. Just excited to play against Notre Dame.”

Streeter added that Uiagalelei should have confidence for two reasons entering the matchup against the Irish.

The first reason is the way he played the first half of Clemson’s season.

Prior to his performance against Syracuse, Uiagalelei was considered a Heisman contender as he had 21 total touchdowns and only two interceptions.

“My message to him is let’s just keep it simple and be in attack mode all the time. And that’s just basically confidence. Just always having that confidence,” Streeter said. “And like I said, he bounced back last week in practice and had a great, great week – didn’t skip a beat at all.”

The second reason is the way he played in South Bend two years ago.

With Clemson starting QB Trevor Lawrence out due to COVID-19, Uiagalelei entered and passed for 439 yards, which is the most anyone has every thrown for against a Notre Dame team.

“He can take that game from two years ago as just confidence – gaining confidence from being in that environment and just being a freshman. And then even what he’s been through since he’s been in that environment for the last two years, I think he’s learned a lot,” Streeter said.

“By him having that knowledge and that experience – and then on top of that his leadership and how he has responded to a lot of things – I mean I think if anything it gives him a ton of confidence going into that situation.”