Will Shipley praises DJ Uiagalelei's play, flipping the narrative after last year's issues

On3 imageby:On3 Staff Report09/28/22

Few players in college football have been through the reversal in narrative Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei has experienced from 2021 to 2022. And even that phrasing probably doesn’t do it real justice. Rather, few players in college football have been through the reversal in narrative Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalalei has earned.

Because if you ask his teammates, every bit of it has been earned.

“It’s just coming to fruition and nobody deserves it more than 5,” running back Will Shipley said. “As everybody’s attributed to, he’s just put his head down and he worked.”

After taking over the full-time starting quarterback job from No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick Trevor Lawrence, Uiagalelei struggled in 2021 as a first-year starter.

He finished his 2021 campaign at Clemson with a 55.6% completion percentage and more interceptions (10) than touchdown passes (nine). Plenty of analysts and fans around the country were already ready to write him off, hailing the arrival of five-star freshman Cade Klubnik as the solution to Dabo Swinney‘s problems after Uiagalelei and the Tigers went 10-3 last fall.

“He got the most criticism out of anybody, not only on our team, but maybe college football last year,” Shipley said. “It was insane just the amount of trash coming his way, and he’s done such a great job of just putting in the work.”

DJ Uiagalelei flipping the narrative week by week

Four games into Clemson’s season and those calls for Clubnik have sure quieted down. And it’s not about anything Clubnik has failed to show; he’s looked plenty capable when afforded opportunity.

It’s just that DJ Uiagalelei, flipping the narrative around completely, has been terrific as well.

He is coming off his best outing of the season in a pivotal 51-45 double-overtime win over No. 22 Wake Forest. Uiagalelei finished 26-of-41 passing for 371 yards and five touchdowns, without throwing an interception. That was his highest yardage output of the season and the five touchdown passes doubled his previous total on the year. He’s sporting a 10-1 interception ratio currently.

“I think we can all see that it’s paying off,” Shipley said. “The game he had last week and then talk about him getting better every week, week in and week out, wanting to continue to improve, confidence growing.”

Clemson sure looks like a team to reckon with one month into the season. Uiagalelei is a huge part of that.

Both will get a chance to prove it’s more than just a passing fad or the product of the early season schedule this week when Clemson hosts No. 10 NC State. The Tigers can begin to assert themselves atop the ACC Atlantic, a division that has some serious contenders in 2022.

To do so, they’ll need the guy who didn’t stop believing in himself and just put his head down and went to work to, well, get right back to it.

“So many things that go into it, but being in the backfield with 5 has been a fun thing to do this season and I’m looking forward to the rest of it,” Shipley said.