TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – DJ Uiagalelei hasn't lost much of his innovation, guile or ability to audible.
We know this because Florida State's quarterback is engaged to be married. Oh, you thought this was about football? Not quite yet. The engagement happened quietly and brilliantly in the offseason. DJU was on vacation in Oahu, Hawaii, with his longtime girlfriend Ava Pritchard, a former Clemson volleyball player.
Before Uiagalelei's knee landed on the grass covered with white roses near the Ko Olina Beach Resort, there was the small matter of the ring. It wasn't there. To keep Pritchard from possibly discovering it on their trip, Uiagalelei made arrangements for his mother, Tausha, to fly over separately with the bling from the family's home in California.
Then ...
"She ended up flying back home," Florida State's quarterback said of his mother.
Without Ava seeing her future mother-in-law?
One [trip to the islands] and done?
Yup.
"That part was crazy," Uiagalelei said.
He did not elaborate. He didn't need to. If his career to date were a vase, it would be overflowing with water. Except the quarterback involved has yet to fully blossom. His engagement story will certainly add color to his NFL Draft interviews someday, but that's planning too far ahead. The one-time five-star recruit needs to first find his game.
That's a mystery, too, and continues to be another story of innovation, guile and ability to audible.
We already know the periphery of the acronym that has become DJU. He is an incredibly humble kid from a proud Polynesian family who was raised right. But he also has a career that began at Clemson, continued 3,000 miles away at Oregon State and now returns to the East Coast in the ACC with the Seminoles. (Yes, he is playing against Clemson on Oct. 5.)
"I'd probably say definitely different than how I expected," Uiagalelei said. "Definitely not what I expected out of going to college, especially coming out of high school as a freshman."
Back then, there was a definite plan. The kid was content with backing up Trevor Lawrence and being "The Next One" at Clemson while easing into the job. It's been done a million times. There was even a big tease that foreshadowed that future. In his second career start, Uiagalelei threw for 439 yards (a Clemson freshman record) in an overtime loss at Notre Dame while Lawrence was sidelined with COVID-19.
But it never seemed like enough. His debut as a starter in 2021 coincided with Clemson's ongoing slip -- if only slightly -- from the national stage. Or was that slip because of DJU, as some of his critics maintained? He completed only 56% of his passes and threw more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (nine) that year.
There was a rebound year (at least statistically) in 2022, but Uiagalelei eventually lost the job to Cade Klubnik and transferred to Oregon State, throwing for a career high 2,600 yards in 2023.
"It was probably the most rewarding year," he told CBS Sports. "I don't know about the best."
The Beavers won eight games but Uiagalelei was among those who couldn't have foreseen the demise of the Pac-12 ... or the crooked path of his career to date.
"Nah, no way," he said. "I just thought I'd be three [years] and done. First round."
Don't they all.
This is a story not only of Uiagalelei but of his peers -- those five stars who may or may not pan out. There are no definitive conclusions to be made regarding the 'Noles QB, who just this week was announced as the starter for the opener against Georgia Tech in Dublin, Ireland.
But when the goal is three-and-out, comparisons are bound to be made. DJU was the No. 2 overall prospect in that Class of 2020, per 247Sports. Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick in 2023 with the Panthers, was No. 1. C.J. Stroud was No. 3 among quarterbacks in 2020 (No. 29 overall). He was eventually the No. 2 pick by the Texans behind Young.
Somebody named Carson Beck was the No. 13 quarterback, rated the No. 234 player overall in the class.
Uiagalelei was first NIL face of the Dr. Pepper "Fansville" campaign three years ago. While no one is doubting his NIL valuation these days -- reportedly more than $500,000 -- he's now doing Polar Pops commercials in Tallahassee.
There was little doubt he was returning for a fifth season ... somewhere. Uiagalelei said his latest draft evaluation placed him between the third and fifth round.
"Is he going to be the first pick in the draft? I'd love for that to happen," said Yogi Roth, a longtime nationally-known Pac-12 Network analyst, now with the Big Ten Network. "I can't project that today. Are there flaws to this game? Of course there are. Are there incredible elements to his game? Of course there are. Can he lead a team to the playoff? Of course he can. Will he live up to other people's expectations? No chance."
Between 2000 and 2023, there have been 140 five-star quarterbacks, according to Roth's research. Only one of those have won a Super Bowl -- Matthew Stafford with the Rams in 2022. That was Stafford's second team in his 13th year in the NFL. Only seven of those 140 were overall No. 1 picks.
The point is, fame is fleeting. Luck sometimes touches you with a wand. In 2022, CBS Sports research showed that over a 20-year period, almost half of the quarterbacks rated in the top five by 247Sports (46 of 100) transferred at some point in their careers. Seven transferred multiple times.
Roth, who is close to Uiagalelei and his family, said the quarterback got a "reset" at Oregon State. The bucolic campus 50 miles from the Pacific Ocean -- though then a Power Five program -- almost soothes the nerves as you walk across it. It is what Uiagalelei needed.
"These other guys are getting these rankings as freshmen in high school, sophomores in high school," Roth said. "DJ was the same way. DJ was an absolute star. He had all the schools [after him] the way you'd think a big-time recruit would have. He got that attention. Then, he went to the place to follow a future No. 1 draft pick [Lawrence]. Then, he met the vitriol of that place.
"Thankfully for him, he came out back west to Oregon State and Jonathan Smith. As he shared with me, much like Bo Nix [Auburn to Oregon], much like other guys that transferred, DJ recaptured the joy of his craft."
This time, Uiagalelei wasn't dissatisfied at his stop. There really weren't many options except to leave with the Pac-12 collapsing around him. Smith left to coach Michigan State. Talented tailback Damien Martinez eventually left for Miami. That beautiful bucolic place just wasn't the same as a football program.
Florida State coach Mike Norvell was impressed by the quarterback a couple of years ago at ACC Media Days. Uiagalelei, then at Clemson, sought out Norvell to offer his sympathies after one of the Seminole players got hurt in a car accident.
"I went out and found Dabo afterward," Norvell recounted. "I told him that was impressive a first interaction with somebody [as I've had]. The caring and concern about another human being? I had a pretty good sense of him from that."
It helped both sides that Norvell had a solid record at developing transfer quarterbacks. Riley Ferguson threw for 70 touchdowns in two years at Memphis. Brady White followed, throwing for 92 touchdowns in three seasons after transferring from Arizona State.
Jordan Travis, a Louisville transfer, was last year's ACC Player of the Year at Florida State. Uiagalelei has worked with quarterback trainer Taylor Kelly, who played under Norvell at Arizona State.
Uiagalelei says folks are making more out of his transfer to Florida State than they should be, but if the idea was to lessen the scrutiny, well, it will be upped a notch or two. His new team just happens to be Clemson's biggest ACC rival. Uiagalelei beat the Seminoles twice in his career. That game the first week of October in Tallahassee might shape the conference's championship game.
The version of the quarterback that shows up this fall is content, if not satisfied.
"This is not what I wanted," the quarterback said of his career to date. "This is not what I thought was going to happen. At the end of the day maybe it's what God told me I needed."