Florida Football: Billy Napier should stay away from DJ Uiagalelei in portal

Yesterday we took a look at potential targets that Florida football could go after in the transfer portal to fill the role of QB now that Anthony Richardson has declared for the NFL draft. Sam Hartman from Wake Forest is the most appealing and there are now rumblings that Kedon Slovis from Pittsburgh is in discussions with Billy Napier.

But the biggest and flashiest name in the transfer portal is a player that the Florida Gators originally offered while in he was in high school. That doesn’t mean the Gators need to offer him again.

Florida Football: DJ needs to stay away

There are a lot of reasons that DJ Uiagalelei passes the eye test: he’s 6-4, 235 pounds, and provides a running threat that will punish teams that try and play man-to-man.

His baseline stats also aren’t that terrible. He had a 62% completion rate this season, 10% better than Richardson. He passed for 2,515 yards, even with Richardson. His 545 yards rushing off 141 attempts isn’t quite as good as Richardson but still serviceable.

He also imploded against South Carolina, was rather pedestrian against Syracuse, and was benched against North Carolina in the ACC Title game. While he would be a better option compared to say Jack Miller, it doesn’t exactly breed confidence for Florida football fans to take in a guy that couldn’t cut it in the ACC.

South Carolina had zero resistance to Florida and turned Uiagalelei into child’s play.

“But Ben, Sam Hartman also plays in the ACC. Why would you want him over Uiagalelei?”

Because Sam Hartman isn’t surrounded by fellow four- and five-star guys, and he still had a better season than Uiagalelei. Wake Forest had the worst talent composite in the ACC according to 247 Sports and the 72nd ranked composite overall, behind teams like Jackson State and USF; Hartman still threw for 3,421 yards and 35 TDs.

Dj Uiagalelei couldn’t make it as a big fish in a small pond. How is he going to make it in a bigger pond?

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