News broke on Monday, December 12th of DJ Uiagalelei’s intention to enter the 2025 NFL Draft. This decision punctuates a five-season college football career. The former five-star phenom played in all five seasons of his college career, totaling just under 10,000 yards passing and finishing with a nearly on-the-dot 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio. To say the outcome of Uiagalelei’s college career was underwhelming would be an understatement. The promised successor to Trevor Lawrence, Uiagalelei was never quite able to reach the heights that had been predetermined for him. Now, the hope is that these experiences provided him with the lessons needed to level up in the NFL.
KCFA Fight – Bobby Walker vs Nick Grass (Winner Announcement)
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 252 lbs
DJ Uiagalelei Player Background
The Inland Empire native, Uiagalelei attended St. John Bosco high school in California. Here, he gained national recognition throwing for 4225 yards and 48 touchdowns in his senior year. These performances propelled him to coveted five-star status as a prospect. Choosing Clemson out of his 30 offers, it was presumed that he would be the heir apparent to Clemson legend Trevor Lawrence. After a few impressive performances in his freshman year, all seemed on the right track. Yet things derailed after Lawrence departed for the NFL. Uiagalelei logged two more less-than-stellar seasons at Clemson, with 2021 seeing him throw more interceptions than touchdowns. This led to his departure from the school prior to the 2023 NCAA season.
DJ Uiagalelei departed Clemson for Oregon State in a highly publicized move prior to the 2023 season. It proved to be an upgrade from his time at Clemson, yet still, something was missing. Deciding to move once again, Uiagalelei chose to succeed Florida State legend Jordan Travis as the seminoles’ 2024 signal caller. This most recent season was less than stellar. Uiagalelei totaled only 1065 passing yards on 156 attempts. His season was surely impacted by a broken finger sustained in a loss to college football playoff team, SMU. Following this tumultuous career, the redshirt senior officially declared for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Accolades
2018 USA Today High School Football Offensive Player of the Year
2020 & 2022 ACC Champion
2023 MLB Draft Pick
Strengths
The first thing that jumps out on tape for the passer are his physical traits. A massive prototypical frame is punctuated by an arm that borders on elite. DJ Uiagalelei is a willing runner, and his size allows him to absorb, and occasionally dish out some solid NFL-caliber hits. While he is not necessarily a burner in the run game, he is certainly effective with his legs, in a Ben Roethlisberger sort of way. Clemson trusted him pretty consistently down in the redzone to cap off drives and punch in designed runs.
In terms of ball placement, Uiagalelei’s biggest strength comes from his touch on deep and intermediate routes. He does a great job of putting the football in an advantageous spot for his receivers when they have a step on a defensive back in a vertical route. He has the arm talent to place the ball anywhere on the field, and should not have any route or concept limitations based on his ability.
Weaknesses
KCFA Fight – Bobby Walker vs Nick Grass (Winner Announcement)
Height: 6’4″
Weight: 252 lbs
DJ Uiagalelei Player Background
The Inland Empire native, Uiagalelei attended St. John Bosco high school in California. Here, he gained national recognition throwing for 4225 yards and 48 touchdowns in his senior year. These performances propelled him to coveted five-star status as a prospect. Choosing Clemson out of his 30 offers, it was presumed that he would be the heir apparent to Clemson legend Trevor Lawrence. After a few impressive performances in his freshman year, all seemed on the right track. Yet things derailed after Lawrence departed for the NFL. Uiagalelei logged two more less-than-stellar seasons at Clemson, with 2021 seeing him throw more interceptions than touchdowns. This led to his departure from the school prior to the 2023 NCAA season.
DJ Uiagalelei departed Clemson for Oregon State in a highly publicized move prior to the 2023 season. It proved to be an upgrade from his time at Clemson, yet still, something was missing. Deciding to move once again, Uiagalelei chose to succeed Florida State legend Jordan Travis as the seminoles’ 2024 signal caller. This most recent season was less than stellar. Uiagalelei totaled only 1065 passing yards on 156 attempts. His season was surely impacted by a broken finger sustained in a loss to college football playoff team, SMU. Following this tumultuous career, the redshirt senior officially declared for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Accolades
2018 USA Today High School Football Offensive Player of the Year
2020 & 2022 ACC Champion
2023 MLB Draft Pick
Strengths
The first thing that jumps out on tape for the passer are his physical traits. A massive prototypical frame is punctuated by an arm that borders on elite. DJ Uiagalelei is a willing runner, and his size allows him to absorb, and occasionally dish out some solid NFL-caliber hits. While he is not necessarily a burner in the run game, he is certainly effective with his legs, in a Ben Roethlisberger sort of way. Clemson trusted him pretty consistently down in the redzone to cap off drives and punch in designed runs.
In terms of ball placement, Uiagalelei’s biggest strength comes from his touch on deep and intermediate routes. He does a great job of putting the football in an advantageous spot for his receivers when they have a step on a defensive back in a vertical route. He has the arm talent to place the ball anywhere on the field, and should not have any route or concept limitations based on his ability.
Weaknesses
The biggest issue with Uiagalelei’s game seems to come from a processing point of view. Timing routes, such as digs or curls, always seem a hair late or behind. This was more prevalent in his more recent tape, which is concerning. His three-step game leaves much to be desired, and he would benefit from getting the ball to his check-down receivers far more often. There is also an air of overconfidence about his game. He often attempts to force the ball into dangerous windows. This issue is exacerbated under pressure, and evident in his turnover numbers. He will surely need to clean this up prior to any NFL action.
In the pocket, Uiagalelei also displays some concerning tendencies. Rarely does his pocket movement seem smooth or instinctive, despite the physical capability to do so. Mechanically, there is much to be desired in his game as well. While the answer to “what are correct throwing mechanics” in my eyes is simply “whatever delivers the ball accurately and on time” Uiagalelei often looks stiff in his throwing motion. This does tend to have a negative affect on some of his passes, as he looks to ‘place’ the ball rather than throwing it naturally. On tape, this seems to contribute to a number of low, uncatchable passes that he has delivered.
Potential Team Fits
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Buffalo Bills
Jacksonville Jaguars
NFL Projection
Uiagalelei profiles as a day 3 to priority undrafted prospect who a team may take a flier on in the 2025 NFL Draft. He has undeniable physical traits that quarterback coaches are sure to want to get their hands on. If a team can tap into his potential, they’ll be rewarded handsomely. The most likely outcome for his career is likely career backup, yet one with a ceiling high enough to be coveted and make a firm living on an NFL Roster.
