Clemson football: D.J. Uiagalelei ready for NIL opportunity

The new face of the Clemson football program, D.J. Uiagalelei, is ready for the opportunity to benefit off his name, image and likeness.

Uiagalelei, who will take over as the new starting quarterback for Clemson football this fall, recently did an interview with CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd talking about the upcoming rule changes with the NCAA pertaining to name, image and likeness (NIL).

In the interview, Uiagalelei said that he would be on board with getting to make some extra money but also believes it shouldn’t be your top priority.

"“If it goes through, I’m trying to get on it and make some money,” Uiagalelei told CBS. “It’s free money. … As long as you don’t make that your main priority, you’ve got a lot of distractions. Shoot, college is hard enough. You gotta deal with school, football, you have a girlfriend — a lot of distractions. As long as you have a plan, it’s just another thing.”"

According to reports from Tigernet, Uiagalelei had the potential of making more than $150,000 from his social media alone last summer and he has gained around 50,000 followers on Instagram and Twitter since that point.

The Clemson football QB certainly has stake in the game when it comes to NIL, but he is still keeping his team first and remaining focused

There’s nothing wrong with looking ahead to what might become a reality for Uiagalelei, especially, when he very well could earn over six-figures off his NIL during his time at Clemson. That being said, what’s most impressive is how he stays grounded.

In the story with CBS Sports, Uiagalelei’s father- Big Dave- talks about how Uiagalelei has handled the hype throughout his career and how he has remained humble throughout the entire process.

"“My worries for kids nowadays is all this hype stuff,” Big Dave said. “I know for a fact some of these kids can’t handle it. When they get an offer, they think they’ve made it already. … Every offer D.J. got, I’d say, ‘Thank you, let’s go back to training like we ain’t got no offers.’ When he got offered at USC, all he thought about was, ‘I’m hungry.'”"

That kind of attitude, in my opinion, is what could set Uiagalelei apart from the rest.

You saw that kind of motivation and mentality from Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson, but the truth of the matter is that Uiagalelei may be even more locked in than them, and that’s saying something.

Of course he wants to make money, but he also wants to be successful both on-the-field and off-the-field. That kind of attitude is going to take him far and it’s only going to make the brand he is building of himself even more appealing.

Uiagalelei has a chance to be an all-time Clemson football great and everything- from his pure talent, work ethic and mentality- points to him achieving that kind of success before he leaves for the NFL.