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DJ Uiagalelei: The Greg Oden Of Quarterbacks?

DJ Uiagalelei
What happened to DJ Uiagalelei and is it fair to call him the Greg Oden of quarterbacks? Will the transfer portal even help? (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)

DJ Uiagalelei: The Greg Oden Of Quarterbacks?

A lot of things have changed since the 2020 quarterback recruiting class entered the college football world. Once upon a time, it was DJ Uiagalelei and Bryce Young who were considered neck and neck with CJ Stroud lagging behind as the third best option.

DJ and Young were polar opposites. One guy was raw but was built like a high and the potential was through the roof. The other was smaller but thrived on being precise but also came with his own touch of magic. We now know the roof has collapsed in on the house and the little guy became a Heisman trophy winner at Alabama. Let’s just all be happy the NFL Draft doesn’t have the same rules as the NBA Draft. It turns out we need more information than just one year of college.

The Vendetta slackmates will tell you that a few years ago I wouldn’t even let anyone utter DJ’s name cause he was locked in as my rookie pick for my fantasy league. That later came to fruition and a pick I’d love to have back. What I didn’t know at the time is that I would eventually come to learn that DJ is just the quarterback version of Greg Oden. Don’t be sad. Let’s all be happy we recognized the mistake and are better because of it.

I’m going to tell a story and it’s not meant as a slight. It’s just a reality that all humans develop at different timelines. We used to have this kid on our wrestling team named moose. He was the same size in fourth grade as he was as a senior. Myself speaking, I hit puberty in like 10th grade. Trey’s always been a late bloomer. Long story short; humans are different.

Uiagalelei was the number one quarterback recruit in the country once upon a time. If you get around to it, watch some highlights of Uiagalelei throwing rockets all over the field. If you really take a look, you will notice that it looks like he’s an avenger out there playing against other humans. His pure size just overwhelmed 99% of high school athletes. It just turns out that he was done developing. It’s not anyone’s fault. It’s just the way that it is.

It turns out that you can’t just inject grease lightning into someone’s knees. The big arm is there. The size is there. The quick twitch and precision necessary to play the quarterback position at the highest level for sure is not.

Uiagalelei, 21, finishes his final season as a Clemson Tiger while sporting a stat line of 2,521 yards, 22 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and a 64.5 QBR. With DJ set to enter the transfer portal, it remains likely that you’re going to see him somewhere in the Pac 12 closer to home. I’m just not sure it will matter.

Maybe Clemson was at fault. Maybe he’s young enough to where the light bulb will go off in his brain. We have seen the really good version of DJ before. At this point, I just wouldn’t count on it. Crazier things have happened before. I’m just not sure he’s ever going to figure things out enough to become an elite drop back passer while being a factor in the run game. He already tried to slim down this past year in a move that didn’t really work.

It’s a sad story but I’m glad we found out now. Better yet, I’m glad this isn’t the NBA Draft where we all would have gotten punked. This is why we do the stock report series. The college football season is the information process and sometimes the cover doesn’t always write the book. It happens.

The good news is if DJ ever does figure it out, we can now celebrate the comeback story. I just wouldn’t count on it because I think we know what happened. He’s Greg Oden and that’s okay.

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