Clemson football has recently been known for producing elite quarterbacks – Deshaun Watson and number one overall pick of the 2021 NFL draft Trevor Lawrence leap to mind.
There’s no question the Tigers, and D.J. Uiagalelei, struggled at the position last season and it’s a position that can’t be hidden on the field. To win at a high level, you need your quarterback to play at a high level, especially when you recruit and retain players in the fashion that the Tigers do.
247sports.com recently ranked the most talented quarterback rooms for 2022 and the Tigers came in fourth behind Ohio State, Alabama and Georgia.
"The Tigers boast something no other team on this list can: three players who earned five-star rankings as high school players."
The Tigers ranking was tepid though, as it should be in my eyes, because as the piece points out, none of its been proved on the field whether we’re talking about Uiagalelei, Cade Klubnik or even Hunter Johnson.
"The Tigers boast something no other team on this list can: three players who earned five-star rankings as high school players. The issue here is that those players aren’t as proven on the field."
Of course, the big question is can Uiagalelei shrug off last season’s performance, regain his confidence and get his swag back, or will that fall to the true freshman Klubnik?
We begin to get the answer to that on September 5th in Atlanta, where Clemson should handle Georgia Tech and has been installed as an early 18.5 point favorite.
More than a final score, I’ll be watching that quarterback position closely to see if D.J. has corrected the issues from last season and does the routine things a quarterback with his skill level should do in his third year in the program.
Clemson football quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei looks to regain the confidence he showed in 2020
Confidence is such a frail thing in sports. You can have it for years and it can be lost in a second, never to be seen again.
My initial thought is D.J. doesn’t necessarily have to be great, but needs to avoid turnovers, particularly soul crushing interceptions.
On the other hand, the Tigers haven’t won a recent National Championship without elite quarterback play, so there’s that to contemplate.
My early feel is this is a team that’s going to rely on defense and running the ball. That’s great and will win a lot of games.
At some point though, the quarterback is going to need to make plays happen and that didn’t happen in 2021.