Streeter swings for fences, hits it out of park with QB spot

Uiagalelei committed to Clemson back in the spring.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Dec 19 16:10:34 GMT-04:00 2019

CLEMSON – Brandon Streeter got one at-bat in the 2020 recruiting class and he hit it out of the park.

Streeter, Clemson’s quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator, had one scholarship to offer for the 2020 recruiting cycle so he had to make sure he got it right. All he did was land the best quarterback in the country in Bellflower (CA) St. John Bosco standout D.J. Uiagalelei.

Uiagalelei is the top quarterback in the nation according to Rivals.com and PrepStar and he led his team to a No. 1 ranking by MaxPreps and USA Today after guiding them to a 7A state championship in California.

He will play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 4, 2020 in San Antonio, Texas. He threw for 10,496 yards in his high school career and had 127 career touchdowns against just 11 interceptions.

“We gave Coach Streeter one spot, and he swings for the fences when he swings,” head coach Dabo Swinney said. “There is no laying down bunts for Streeter. He is going out and he signed Trevor Lawrence – he‘s pretty good - and Chase Brice who is pretty good, and he's got he's got this young man coming all the way from California, the No. 1 player in the country.

“This guy just led his team to the high school national championship. But he's from one of the best schools in the country. It was very easy for me to see why DJ was drawn r our program, a lot of similarities and how they do things and the culture that they have.”

Streeter said recruiting Uiagalelei was more fun than work.

“It's just been such fun recruiting DJ and his family,” Streeter said. “And, as you all know, to get a kid to come here, it's about a fit. And I remember the first phone call I had with DJ, and I was just real and straight up with him about the process and said, ‘Listen, I've heard that you have some interest in us. And after I watched your film, I’ve got a lot of interest in you.’ But it's not just about that and it's about a fit and so I said, ‘Listen, if I come out and see you in the spring, you need to come to camp.’ And he said, ‘Coach, I'm serious about this thing.' And so I went out and saw him and got to meet the coaches and talk to the coaches about him and then he came out to summer camp.

"It was special for him to see the culture. And it really showed that he was a perfect fit. And he said that from the first day that he got here. He came to camp and got to be around our people. It was a really neat process and then since then, you know, we felt like we had a really good chance with him. He was able to commit on his mother's birthday. It’s been a special road with him and I’m just excited for him and his new journey here.”

Swinney said Uiagalelei isn’t afraid of the competition.

“It's really cool because he literally probably could have gone and started right out of the gate at just about any school,” Swinney said. “He knows that we have a guy named Trevor Lawrence that's going to be back next year. He knows about Chase Brice and he knows about Taisun Phommachanh, but he says, ‘Hey I'm coming to Clemson and I’m not afraid to compete.’ This is what he was looking for in his college experience. And that's a credit to all the people here. It's a credit to this wonderful university.”