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Clemson football vs Florida State in 2024 gets better with DJ Uiagalelei's latest transfer
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- Clemson football vs Florida State in 2024 gets better with DJ Uiagalelei's latest transfer
When Clemson and Florida State renew their rivalry on the football field, it's typically of keen interest, particularly in ACC circles.
But suffice to say Clemson's road game at Florida State in 2024 just got considerably more interesting than usual.
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Such has a tendency to happen when one of your former players ends up on the roster of your primary conference rival.
Enter former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei , who announced on Jan. 1 he has committed to Florida State.
We don't know the date of the 2024 Clemson-Florida State game, but we do know that the game will be in Tallahassee and that Uiagalelei is the apparent replacement for the departed Jordan Travis , the 2023 ACC Offensive Player of the Year.
This phenomenon of facing off against former teammates is occurring with considerably greater frequency now with the transfer portal in full and seemingly unbounded swing, allowing players to change teams with a fluidity heretofore unseen.
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Quarterbacks are the darlings of the portal, because everyone needs one or wants a better one or has to replace one.
We got a taste of the new norm in college football this season when former Virginia quarterback Brennan Armstrong guided his new team – NC State – to victory in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Sept. 22, then again on Nov. 18 when Sam Hartman , who bolted Wake Forest for Notre Dame, helped the Fighting Irish manhandle his former team, 45-7.
We missed out seeing a potential clash of former Clemson teammates when a projected Holiday Bowl matchup between Clemson and Oregon State lost some luster when Uiagalelei entered the transfer portal for a second time in as many years.
Uiagalelei did manage to post modest numbers at Oregon State, but perhaps not quite up to his expectations. After going through spring practice at Oregon State, he described Clemson's offense as "very basic" and expressed a desire "to let me play free" and "just cut it loose."
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"I wanted to be able to do play-action, throw a lot of deep balls, deep posts, scheme-wise, a little bit more complex than I was doing at Clemson, a little more NFL-style," Uiagalelei told ESPN.
Uiagalelei passed for 2,638 yards last season with the Beavers – 117 more than in his junior season at Clemson. He completed 57.1% of his passes, less than his 61.9% the previous season at Clemson, and had 21 touchdown passes with seven interceptions at Oregon State – one less touchdown pass and the same number of interceptions he had at Clemson in 2022.
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Hey, he may set the world on fire at Florida State, but there's not much in his college history at this point to indicate that NFL scouts will be salivating prior to him entering the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Uiagalelei expressed joy in being in a larger college town in Corvallis, Oregon, where football isn't woven into the very fabric of the community and where he could remain largely anonymous.
Now it's off to Tallahassee and Florida State, which he's described as a great fit for a third time in as many programs.
Great fit or not, football reigns supreme in the Florida panhandle, so that quest for anonymity may be short-lived. And you can bet that fans from both Clemson and Florida State will be circling one highly anticipated date on their schedule.
Scott Keepfer covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at skeepfer@gannett.com and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @ScottKeepfer
This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson football can circle matchup with DJ Uiagalelei, Florida State
