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Oregon State football added one of the most marquee college football transfer portal additions of the offseason with former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei announcing his decision to come to Corvallis...
How did that process come to be? BeaversEdge traces Uiagalelei's journey to Oregon State in detail...
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The Oregon State football program and head coach Jonathan Smith sent shockwaves across the college football universe on Christmas Eve 2022 as former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei announced his commitment via social media.
Less than a week after the Beavers pummeled Florida in the Las Vegas Bowl to earn just the third 10-plus win campaign in Corvallis, Smith and Co. suddenly had the answer to a lot of the offensive quarterback shortcomings they faced throughout the 2022 campaign.
They landed the most significant recruit/transfer in program history and suddenly had eyes on them like never before as Uiagalelei is a player who comes with a national profile across the college football landscape, having been firmly in the spotlight at Clemson.
However, the process of Uiagelelei ultimately ended up in Corvallis is certainly an interesting tale...
Uiagalelei announced his intention to seek the transfer portal on Dec. 5th, just days after Clemson defeated North Carolina in the ACC Championship game with Cade Klubnik at quarterback.
Tigers' head coach Dabo Swinney said after the ACC Championship that Uiagalelei would be backing up Klubnik moving forward, and that's when DJ decided that a new home would be the best fit for him.
"Ultimately, I felt like I wanted to go somewhere where they'll maximize my talents at quarterback and I wanted to go somewhere that was a little different and more pro-style, which plays to my strengths," Uiagalelei said.
Knowing what he was looking for, Uiagalelei set out to leave no stone unturned looking for the program, coaches, and fit that would help him achieve the next level of quarterback play and beyond.
From the moment he entered the portal, he identified Oregon State as a place that really would fit everything he was looking for... however, he had to determine whether or not the interest was indeed mutual as he didn't hear back from the Beavers until after they had completed the Las Vegas Bowl two weeks later...
"Going through the process, this was one of the top schools I wanted to go to," Uiagalalei said. "This is where I wanted to be, but for a little bit, I didn't know if that was going to be the case. I reached out when I put my name in the portal and didn't hear anything back for about two weeks... After those two weeks, I got in touch with former running backs coach AJ Steward, and he ended up getting me in contact with coach Lindgren and coach Smith."
Oregon State head coach Jonathan Smith spoke on the gap in communication between when DJ reached out and when Steward was able to connect him with Lindgren and Smith...
"I think there's a couple of different ways to look at how much mutual interest is really out there and what's not," Smith said. "We're process-oriented and I think now that he's in the program he appreciates the approach that we're going through, a process to make sure the fit is right on both sides."
While some may have taken the gap in communication as a slight, that thought never crossed his mind as he knew the Beavers were knee-deep in bowl prep and felt that if he stayed consistent in prayer things would work out the way they were supposed to.
"I think the biggest thing was they were in bowl prep," Uiagalelei said. "It didn't really matter to me if they got back to me in a month, I knew this was a good place for me."
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