Oregon State Football Notebook: DJ Uiagalelei Growing Comfortable With OSU

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With the Oregon State football team gearing up for its first scrimmage of fall camp on Saturday, BeaversEdge dives into several offensive storylines in this in-depth notebook!

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When Oregon State pulled off one of the biggest transfer portal coups of the offseason in landing former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei, a bolt of electricity ran through the program in a major way.

The former five-star recruit is the highest-rated player to join Oregon State's program and he's a massive asset to head coach Jonathan Smith and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren as the duo look to build a more dynamic passing attack in 2023.

While DJ entered spring with big-time outside expectations, it was an up-and-down spring for the St. John Bosco alum as he was still learning the offense and immersing himself in the lifestyle of Oregon State football.

There were moments when you saw just how good he could be, and other moments when you could tell the offense and the system were a lot to take in.

While DJ was still the odds-on favorite to win the job, he exited spring still fully immersed in a quarterback battle with Ben Gulbranson and Aidan Chiles.

Fast-forward to nearly two weeks into fall camp and the quarterback battle is still ongoing, but there's no question, DJ looks a lot better on the field now compared to spring.

"I definitely feel a lot more comfortable out there than in springtime," Uiagalelei said. "It's definitely slowed down a little bit, plays feel a lot more familiar, and I can see plays a lot better in my head. It's been good."

In terms of what specifics Uiagalelei worked on in the offseason?

"I got more comfortable with the receivers, comfortable with the timing and rhythm of the plays, how different stuff works, blocking alignments, and just reads overall. As many reps as you get the more comfortable you get, so getting offseason reps was good."

Lindgren echoed DJ's comments and says that all the work he put in during the summer is paying off in a big way with how much more efficiently he's operating the offense.

"He's a lot more comfortable with the system," Lindgren said. "He's put in a lot of time in the offseason, watching film from the spring and cut-ups of previous seasons and he's much more comfortable with timing with the receivers where he's not thinking as much and just going out and playing. You can see his confidence level jumping."

Uiagalelei has only been working with Lindgren for a relatively short period, but the relationship and bond the two have formed is particularly notable. They're extremely close and talk often...

"Coach Lindgren is a great guy, I love him and we have a great relationship," Uiagalelei said. "He's a cool dude, easy to talk to, life, football, etc, but he does a really good job of explaining the plays for the quarterback and helps us understand it from a quarterback's view. He has a really good grasp on the offense and understands the little keys that will help you win."

As far as the biggest differences between the Beavers compared to his time with the Tigers? That's simple...

Huddling.

"The most interesting thing for me is huddling," Uiagalelei said with a smile. "I don't think I've truly huddled every play since Pop Warner, so that's definitely been the most interesting part."

As far as what he loves most about Oregon State?

"The brotherhood is really tight here... I love the blue-collar mentality here... When I first came here that's the first thing I noticed from the coaching staff. That starts with Coach Smith and from the coaches to the players, there are no ego's at all. At the end of the day, we all just come here and work. There's no ego, no stars, here everyone just comes in puts a hard hat on and just puts their best foot forward and just works their ass off."