DJ Uiagalelei behind Jake Bentley, Chase Brice in PFF rankings

Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei hasn’t had the performances that many Tiger fans had hoped through as we head into the bye week of the 2021 season.

Through the first five games of the season, Uiagalelei has completed just 54.3 percent of his passes for 793 yards and three touchdowns to three interceptions.

Those certainly aren’t numbers that would’ve been expected coming into this season when many were believe that Uiagalelei had an opportunity to win the Heisman.

DJ Uiagalelei is ranked behind Jake Bentley and Chase Brice in the PFF rankings

Pro Football Focus recently released its Week 6 FBS Quarterback Rankings for all 130 starting quarterbacks in the FBS. Several factors went into these rankings, including career-grading profiles and much more.

Uiagalelei was listed in the ‘needs to improve tier’ at No. 94 overall.

Two notable names that were ahead of him: Jake Bentley (No. 85, Southern Alabama) and Chase Brice (No. 50, App State). For those that don’t remember, Bentley was once the starting quarterback at South Carolina and lost his job. He transferred to Utah and is now playing for Southern Alabama. Chase Brice was the second-string quarterback for Clemson football from 2017-19 before transferring to Duke and now he’s at Appalachian State.

Here’s a look at PFF’s top-5 quarterbacks in the nation:

1. Malik Willis (Liberty)
2. Spencer Rattler (Oklahoma)
3. Matt Corral (Ole Miss)
4. Grayson McCall (Coastal Carolina)
5. Bryce Young (Alabama)

There are certainly some arguments to be had with PFF on their rankings and many of them don’t make sense. Even with all the down points this season, I wouldn’t take Bentley over Uiagalelei.

That being said, these rankings do show that there is a long ways to go in improvement and, honestly, we didn’t need to see these to know that.

DJ Uiagalelei is working hard to make improvements and there’s no doubt he has the desire to be a great player at this level and at the next. He has some flaws, but he also has flashed his potential.

Every Clemson football fan’s hope moving forward is that the Tigers find a way to put it together and that we begin to see Uiagalelei show more consistency and reach that potential.