Clemson Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney and quarterback DJ Uiagalelei didn’t always see eye to eye during his two years as a starter.
That’s why Uiagalelei entered the transfer portal and joined the Oregon State Beavers in December. In April, Uiagalelei opened up about his experience at Clemson, telling Bruce Feldman of The Athletic that Clemson’s offense did not impress him.
“I didn’t want to do what I was doing at Clemson,” Uiagalelei said. “I didn’t really like what we did there scheme-wise. I didn’t think we did very much. I thought it was very basic.”
Those were not the most inflammatory comments, but they definitely portrayed the Clemson offense in a bad light.
Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney told The State‘s Chapel Fowler Monday that he’d heard the remarks. Then he responded with comments that sounded like something that might have been said by the DJ Uiagalelei Fan Club president.
“I love DJ. … I’m just pulling for him to do awesome, and I think he will,” Swinney said. “I’m proud of him. At the end of the day, it didn’t go as well as you’d hope, but that’s just life.
“It’s a very small margin for error. But he was 22-6 as a starter, part of two ACC championship teams … I love DJ, and I’m pulling for him to do great things, and I’d be surprised if he doesn’t.”
At tonight’s Rock Hill Prowl & Grow event, asked Dabo Swinney if he had any reaction to DJ U’s criticisms of the program to The Athletic last month — the “very basic” offensive scheme, etc. Said he still loves DJ and “ain’t nothing changed with that.” Full response: pic.twitter.com/8DPCUFj8kb
— Chapel Fowler (@chapelfowler) May 22, 2023
That’s the kind of class we’ve come to expect from Swinney. Clemson finished 11-3 in 2022, and it will be interesting to see how things go without Uiagalelei as the starting quarterback.
