Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei wasn’t even rated inside the top-20 in Pro Football Network’s Power Rankings of all 130 FBS quarterbacks in the nation.
Uiagalelei, who will be taking over as the starting quarterback for the Tigers following the reign of Trevor Lawrence, is a former 5-star and No. 1 overall QB in the nation coming out of high school.
During his freshman season with Clemson, DJ Uiagalelei started in two games and threw for nearly 800 yards and accounted for six touchdowns.
Still, Pro Football Network has him ranked as the No. 24 quarterback in the nation heading into this season. Ahead of him- just in the ACC- were names like Kenny Pickett (Pittsburgh), D’Eriq King (Miami), Phil Jurkovec (Boston College) and Sam Howell (UNC).
Here’s a look at PFN’s top 10 quarterbacks:
- Sam Howell (UNC)
- Malik Willis (Liberty)
- Spencer Rattler (Oklahoma)
- J.T. Daniels (Georgia)
- Matt Corral (Ole Miss)
- Brock Purdy (Iowa State)
- Carson Strong (Nevada)
- Michael Penix Jr. (Indiana)
- Desmond Ridder (Cincinatti)
- Kedon Slovis (USC)
DJ Uiagalelei is grossly underrated on this list and there’s really no way around it
The author of the post said that a major portion of these rankings were invested in game film- both high school and at the collegiate level- but something simply doesn’t add up.
How can you look at Uiagalelei’s snaps in meaningful games- where he threw for nearly 800 yards, led the Tigers to a come-from-behind victory over a scrappy Boston College team and then put them in position to beat Notre Dame on the road despite being undermanned – and believe that he’s just the 24th quarterback in the country?
Would teams really take Michael Penix Jr. or Carson Strong over Uiagalelei if we had a College Football QB Draft? I don’t think so.
Also, if you’re looking at film and docking points for Uiagalelei based off his foot work at times in the Notre Dame, then how can you put J.T. Daniels- who has a much lesser arm- at No. 4 in the nation? Daniels hasn’t shown any kind of real mobility since he came to Athens and that looked even worse in Georgia’s spring game.
There are some holes in this list, but I guess that might just give Uiagalelei some motivation to come out and prove what he is capable of achieving.