DJ Uiagalelei says there is no reason to 'whine and complain' about adversity

DJ Uiagalelei was once again a face of the Clemson program on Wednesday at the ACC Kickoff. (ACC/Jaylynn Nash)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Jul 21 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2022

CHARLOTTE, NC – DJ Uiagalelei walked out onto the grass in Death Valley last November wearing a splint on the index finger of his throwing hand, a knee brace on his sprained right knee, and dealing with a bevy of other aches and pains that would keep most people at home. Instead of staying home, however, he led Clemson to a blowout win over Wake Forest in the regular season ACC finale.

Uiagalelei told TigerNet Wednesday that he doesn’t want to complain, and even though he was drawing the ire of Clemson fans for the spotty play of the offense, he never wanted a day off.

He just wanted to play.

“I wanted to be out there each and every week. I wanted to compete,” Uiagalelei said. “I wanted to be out there for my teammates. “I am a competitor. It doesn't matter how hurt I was, as long as I could walk, I could still play the game. And I wanted to play in every game.”

His teammates have said that not once did Uiagalelei ever hang his head, he never asked out of practice, and he certainly never complained. He simply walked into the football facility every day ready to work.

“When I was growing up my parents always taught me not to complain,” he said. “There is no reason to complain. You don't need to complain and whine and make excuses for something. For me, I just wanted to put my head down and work and keep going out there and putting my best effort forward. I wanted to keep working.”

His head coach, Dabo Swinney, said no one on the team listens to what’s written on a message board.

“I don’t need anybody on a message board to tell me who DJ is on a message board,” Swinney said. “Just ask (former Clemson AD) Terry Don Phillips, I won six games my second year as the head coach. I won six games as the head coach. There was a lot of people on the message boards wanting me gone. Right? Then next year we won the ACC for the first time in 20 years. We won 10 games for the first time in 20 years. Now we win 10 games, and they want to fire me.

“Terry Don Phillips had a lot of confidence me as a coach. I got a lot of confidence in DJ. Going to graduate in December. Unbelievable young man on and off the field. One of the best leaders that we’ve had come through. Incredibly committed. He has some scars on him and some shrapnel and some wounds. That’s going to serve him well as he goes into this year.”

Uiagalelei admitted that he didn’t play well in 2021, but he hopes to apply the lessons learned to become a better player.

“I think it was a combination of things. I definitely didn't play to the level I wanted to. There were too many turnovers, the completion percentage was low, and even though we won 10 games last year it was a down year. We finished really well at the end of the year and won six straight and that has pushed us into this offseason,” Uiagalelei said. “I've never really gone through adversity like that where you've lost like three games. For me, I had never lost three games through high school, youth football, anything like that. To be able to go through adversity you're able to learn different things you wouldn't have been able to if you had just won every single game. Going through that has made me into a better football player and also a better man."

Swinney thinks Uiagalelei will be better because his supporting cast will be better.

“Last year, as I’ve said many times, I’ve never had a young quarterback, first-year starter who didn’t make mistakes, but the past young quarterbacks that I have had, the last two young quarterbacks, Deshaun Watson and Trevor, they made mistakes, but we were much better around them,” Swinney said. “Whereas with DJ, we were not very good around him. So his mistakes were magnified.”

Swinney believes last season was part of the maturation process for Uiagalelei, and it’s all about how he responds this coming season.

“Then I think this guy, all he has ever done is win, and now all of a sudden it’s disappointment, there’s adversity, challenges, and some criticism. How do you respond? It’s disappointing. Next thing you know, people question you, and maybe you lose a little confidence or you try to do too much. That’s all part of maturing. He is going to play football for a long time.”

No matter what happens, however, don’t expect Uiagalelei to complain.

“No one listens to you anyway,” he said. “You have to go out and you have to perform. That’s the bottom line.”