D.J. Uiagalelei has had an unusual college football career. The 22-year-old quarterback will exhaust his fifth and final season at Florida State after stops at Clemson and Oregon State.
And he has put on some weight… again!
The significant gain was on display Seminoles got spring ball under way earlier this week.
Uiagalelei, a five-star prospect in the recruiting Class of 2020, was the second-ranked player in the country behind only Bryce Young. Clemson received his commitment over 22 other schools.
There was a lot of excitement surrounding Uiagalelei’s potential, especially after he was thrust into the starting job for two games as a freshman when Trevor Lawrence got hurt. However, his next two seasons did not quite live up to the hype — even though he won 21 of 26 games as the starter.
As a result of his inconsistent play, and the rise of Cade Klubnik, Uiagalelei hit the transfer portal. He landed at Oregon State and won eight games with the Beavers last year.
Now, in year five, Uiagalelei is in Tallahassee as a well-traveled signal-caller back in his old conference.
D.J. Uiagalelei is thicc with two Cs.
Here’s the thing. It’s not like the California-native was ever “small.”
However, his weight has fluctuated over the years. It seems like he and the Seminoles’ staff believe that he is most successful when he is beefed out. (Either that, or he got fat…)
Uiagalelei committed to Clemson at 245 pounds and played his freshman year at that weight. By the end of his sophomore year, he was playing closer to 260 pounds.
An offseason transformation began. Uiagalelei dropped about 25 pounds between his second and third years to reach the 235 range, which was the lightest he had played since early high school.
Year four, his lone season in Corvallis, was played at a weight closer to 240.
He arrived to Florida State at 245. Now, as spring practice gets underway, Uiagalelei is back up to 255 and built like a boulder.
It will be curious to see whether Uiagalelei can finally get it all to click this year. His weight journey is just as interesting as his career journey. For a quarterback to play at 255 is beefy!