As ACC Kickoff approaches, all eyes are on new FSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei

When the Atlantic Coast Conference holds its annual preseason media event in three weeks, Florida State will be one of three teams to appear on the first day. The others will be Georgia Tech and SMU.

So, the Seminoles obviously will be the main attraction in Charlotte on the opening day of ACC Kickoff.

And the primary topic of conversation about Florida State will revolve around new quarterback transfer DJ Uiagalelei and whether FSU coach Mike Norvell can help him realize the potential that made him arguably the No. 1 quarterback in the country when he originally signed with Clemson back in 2020.

“The question of the year in the ACC is how DJ and Mike work together,” ESPN/ACC Network analyst Roddy Jones told Warchant in a recent interview. “Obviously, I trust Mike Norvell. He’s had a ton of success with quarterbacks — and quarterbacks with different skill sets. But this one will be interesting.”

Uiagalelei’s Clemson career started with a bang when he was called upon as a true freshman to fill in for Trevor Lawrence in games against Notre Dame and Boston College, and he delivered a pair of monster performances.

On the road against the then-No. 4-ranked Irish, Uiagalelei passed for 439 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another. Against Boston College, he passed for 342 yards, completed 73.2 percent of his passes (30 of 41), and accounted for three more touchdowns.

The next two years, however, would not live up to that early hype.

Even though the Tigers won 10 games in 2021 and 11 in 2022, Uiagalelei’s tenure was viewed by many as a disappointment. He completed just 55.6 percent of his passes in his first year as a starter and finished with 10 interceptions and just nine touchdowns. Those numbers improved dramatically in 2022 — to 62 percent passing and a 22-to-7 ratio of touchdowns to interceptions — but he never seemed to win the confidence of his coaching staff or the Clemson fan base.

Uiagalelei eventually was replaced by then-freshman Cade Klubnik late in the 2022 season.

Looking back at that situation, Jones believes Uiagalelei wasn’t a very good fit for Clemson’s system, which required pinpoint passing on underneath throws to keep the offense on schedule.

“They were accustomed to those guys who could throw a 5-yard out consistently and get you to second-and-3,” Jones said. “He was not that consistent at that time.”

The ESPN analyst feels Oregon State did a much better job of capitalizing on Uiagalelei’s strengths when he transferred there in 2023. The Beavers’ offense was predicated on a powerful running game, and they allowed the strong-armed quarterback to take more shots down the field.

Even though he completed far fewer passes at Oregon State than he did at Clemson, Uiagalelei actually passed for more yardage. He completed 180 passes for 2,638 yards with the Beavers, and 229 passes for 2,521 in his final season with the Tigers. His yards-per-attempt soared from 6.8 to 8.4, and his yards-per-completion went from 11.0 to 14.66.

Jones believes Florida State will likely take a similar approach this fall. As does one of Jones’ colleagues at the ACC Network, Eric Mac Lain.

Few football analysts have had a closer view of Uiagalelei’s college career than Mac Lain. The former Clemson offensive lineman obviously has deep ties to the Tigers’ program, and he has been one of the ACCN’s main football analysts since the network’s inception in 2019.

While saying he is a fan of Uiagalelei’s and is excited to see the quarterback return to the ACC, Mac Lain admitted that he initially was curious about how he would fit into Norvell’s offense at Florida State. But after talking with Norvell and gaining a clearer picture of what the Seminoles hope to do with the 6-foot-4, 255-pound signal-caller, Mac Lain told Warchant he likes the plan.

“He’s not going to run Jordan Travis’ offense with DJ Uiagalelei,” MacLain said of Norvell. “He’s gonna run what’s best for DJ and what’s best for that team. So we’re gonna see shots down the field. Explosives. Quarterback power. Things that Jordan didn’t do or maybe wouldn’t do.

“So at the end of the day, I think he has earned the right — because of his play-calling, because of his decision-making and because of who he is as a head coach — that you have to give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s going to get this guy in the right spot.”

Jones and Mac Lain both said they also expect Norvell to help Uiagalelei shore up his mechanics and footwork, which have contributed to his inconsistency at times.

They point to the dramatic improvement Travis made under Norvell’s tutelage from 2020-23.

“Jordan was ready to stop playing quarterback, and he turned him into a Heisman contender,” Mac Lain said. “I can’t say it’s going to be that drastic in this short amount of time … but I think we should see the best version of DJ. And what we expected when he was lighting up Notre Dame, wearing a paw on his helmet.”

Talk about this story with other die-hard Florida State football fans on the Tribal Council.

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