D.J. Uiagalelei took over as the quarterback for the Florida State Seminoles with some hope that he could quickly establish himself as one of the top quarterback prospects for the 2025 NFL Draft. Unfortunately for the well-traveled Uiagalelei, his performance in the Seminoles loss to Georgia Tech in Week 0 showed he’s got a very large hill to climb.
Uiagalelei completed 19 of his 27 passes against Georgia Tech, but he posted just 193 yards. Facing some consistent pressure from the Yellow Jackets defense, Uiagalelei almost exclusively checked down and worked the short margins until late in the game. His yardage was boosted by some nice YAC work by RBs Lawrance Toafili and Roydell Williams on a great screen play up the left sideline, but the stats show Uiagalelei had a net negative air yards per attempt in the first half.
Two impressive fourth-down conversions helped boost up “DJU’s” stock a little, showing some strong-armed accuracy and some ability to move around in the pocket to get a throwing angle. But overall, this was not the showing Uiagalelei or Florida State wanted in his third collegiate stop. His Georgia Tech counterpart, former Texas A&M QB Haynes King, looked like a better NFL prospect in the game in Ireland.
