Uiagalelei Ready for Spotlight , But Doesn’t Understand How Lawrence Managed It
Not many stars shone as bright in college as Trevor Lawrence did at Clemson, and sophomore quarterback D.J. Uiagalelei witnessed what it meant to be a collegiate superstar as a freshman in 2020.
In an interview with CBS Sports, Uiagalelei detailed how puzzled he was about how Lawrence dealt with the "mobbing" and virtual house arrest that came with collegiate super-stardom at Clemson.
"Trevor, I don't know how he does it," Uiagalelei told CBS Sports. "He has to deal with a lot. He can't even go outside at Clemson. He can't go downtown. You wouldn't think that a starting quarterback at a school wouldn't be able to leave his house. I can go out. You get recognized, but Trevor, he would just get mobbed."
Lawrence's stature in college is somewhat of a rarity, but nothing unseen before. Lawrence threw for over 3,000 yards in his final year in orange despite missing the two COVID-induces Uiagalelei starts, but for Clemson and Uiagalelei, the pressure situations faced in just two games became one of the season's silver linings.
"It sucks how I came in because Trevor got COVID," Uiagalelei said. "But it was a true blessing to get in there and be able to get my feet wet."
Uiagalelei has seen the pressure before as a highly touted recruit and maybe eerie of the publicity attached to the job but will get through with the same mindset his father "Big Dave" Uiagalelei instilled in him before the offers and QB1: Beyond the Lights came in.
"My worries for kids nowadays is all this hype stuff," Uiagalelei's father said. "I know for a fact some of these kids can't handle it. When they get an offer, they think they've made it already. … Every offer D.J. got, I'd say, 'Thank you, let's go back to training like we ain't got no offers.'"
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