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Florida Football: Two 2024 opponents pickup their new QB out of transfer portal

FSU and UCF have their new QB for the 2024 season, while Miami has to go back to the drawing board

By Benjamin Henderson

Nov 24, 2023; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon State Beavers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei (5) warms up
Nov 24, 2023; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon State Beavers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei (5) warms up / Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
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The 2024 schedule for Florida football is a daunting one with only one true cupcake on docket.

Two of their opponents seemed to have shored up their QB position for 2024 season, and it is two names that Gator fans should be familiar with.

Florida Football: Go DJ

In two moves that were anticipated, it was announced that DJ Uiagalelei will be heading to FSU while KJ Jefferson will be heading to UCF for the 2024 season.

Uiagalelei is the former five-star QB who was the number one rated QB in the class of 2020. He committed to Clemson and played in nine games as a freshman. He played in all 13 games for Clemson in 2021 and 2022, but just never morphed into the next big thing while with the Tigers. His 2022 season was decent, throwing for 22 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He also had 2,521 yards with a 61.9% completion rate.

But he opted to transfer for the 2023 season to Oregon State, and by the season's end, his numbers were almost identical.

With head coach Jonathan Smith leaving Oregon State for Michigan State and the Pac-12 dissolving without the Beavers finding a new viable home, Uiagalelei opted to hit the portal again.

It was announced that he will be transferring to FSU, replacing the outgoing Jordan Travis.

UCF also has their new QB and it is a player that beat the Gators in The Swamp in 2023. KJ Jefferson didn't have quite the hype that Uiagalelei had coming out of high school, but he emerged as one of the better QBs in the SEC for the Arkansas Razorbacks.

After biding his time in 2019 and 2020, Jefferson became the starter for Arkansas in 2021 and posted back to back seasons of over 2,600 passing yards and 600 yards rushing. Many pegged Jefferson as the preseason SEC QB to watch heading into 2023, but his production took a step backwards.

That didn't stop Jefferson from leading Arkansas into The Swamp back in November and knocking off the Gators.

Jefferson will head to Orlando to take over from outgoing QB John Rhys Plumlee.

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