DJ Uiagalelei will suit up for Florida State in 2024, which will be the third program of his college career.
Uiagalelei spent last season at Oregon State, but begin his college tenure at Clemson, where he played from 2020-22.
This fall, Uiagalelei will play for FSU against Clemson, an experience that he admitted will be a weird one.
“I think yeah, because that was somewhere I played at,” Uiagalelei told On3’s Andy Staples. “That was my first place I played at. That’s the place I graduated from. A lot of my friends are still on the team, a lot of coaches I still know.”
A five-star recruit and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2020 class, Uiagalelei had a stellar freshman season as Trevor Lawrence’s backup, which included 439 passing yards against Notre Dame in his first career start when Lawrence was sick with COVID-19.
However, the California native slumped badly in 2021, and though he rebounded in 2022, throwing for 2,521 yards and 22 touchdowns, Uiagalelei entered the transfer portal and wound up at Oregon State.
Now, he’s at Florida State following a second transfer. Despite how his time at Clemson ended, he has no ill will toward the program, though it will be interesting to face the Tigers, to say the least.
“I still have a lot of love for Clemson,” Uiagalelei said. “And they did nothing but – it was an amazing time I had at Clemson. Granted, my journey ended up taking me somewhere else, but I loved my time at Clemson. Coach [Dabo] Swinney is an amazing coach, all the guys they were great and every single staff member there was great. I loved it. And I graduated, like, my best friends still play there. I still talk to them to this day. My brothers are still on that team.
“But yeah, when that time comes, it’ll definitely be different.”