DJ Uiagalelei wants to be like Ricky Bobby and go fast

DJ Uiagalelei wants to go fast with the Clemson offense.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Nov 17 17:32:03 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – DJ Uiagalelei is excited about playing a historic program like Miami, and he wants to go fast, just like Ricky Bobby. But he wants to go fast without the turnovers.

Clemson (9-1 overall, 7-0 ACC) plays host to Miami (5-5, 3-3) this weekend on Senior Day. The Tigers were able to hold off Louisville last weekend despite four fumbles, three of which were lost. One of those fumbles belonged to Uiagalelei, who said the Tigers overall had a solid effort against the Cardinals.

“I feel like it was a solid game. We have to clean up the turnovers and take care of the football,” Uiagalelei said. “Overall, I thought we executed well. We moved the ball good during the drives we had. I think the biggest thing was just shooting ourselves in the foot. Overall, I thought it was solid.”

Uiagalelei had back-to-back rough games in the win over Syracuse and the loss at Notre Dame, so he wanted to take a step forward last week.

“There were certain things I wanted to do and certain things I wanted to get out of the game,” he said. “It was good to get the last two games out of my system and play a solid game coming into this week.”

Feeling better about himself and the offense, Uiagalelei is preparing to face the Hurricanes for the first time.

“Miami is a historic program. They have great athletes and great coaching,” he said. “I feel like they have a lot of great athletes on the defense. They're very athletic. All of the guys can run. They're pretty physical as well and they'll come downhill and hit. Their safeties do a good job tackling in space so it will be good for us.

“Miami is an unbelievable team. They have talent. I feel like injuries have hurt them a little bit. At the end of the day, Miami is a great football program. They have a great head coach in Coach (Mario) Cristobal. They're going to be ready to play so we have to bring our best game on Saturday.”

It looks as if Uiagalelei plays better when the tempo is fast and he said yes, reminiscent of Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights.

“I love the up-tempo offense. I love to go fast. I think it's less thinking,” he said. “You're going out there and reacting instead of thinking. The faster you play, the less you have to think. It's more reaction. When you're reacting, it's the preparation you put in through the week and you're not thinking about stuff as much.

“We worked on it this week and it's one thing that Coach (offensive coordinator Brandon) Streeter told the offense to be able to play with more tempo and play faster. I feel like we did a good job this weekend playing faster.”