NEW ORLEANS – Brandon Streeter has coached a lot of talented quarterbacks in his five full seasons at Clemson, including Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson.

However, the Tigers’ quarterbacks coach is not sure he has had a signal-caller that can put zip on the ball quite like DJ Uiagalelei, who joined the team this past weekend.

“First thing that you notice is how strong his arm is,” Streeter told The Clemson Insider during Clemson’s media day for the national championship game. “I mean, it’s incredible. I don’t know if I’ve seen a guy that has quite the arm strength that he does. Obviously every time a kid comes in, you try to tweak a few things technically. So, we’ll work on that this spring a little bit. But the main thing for him is to really dive into the playbook and really learn it. Once you do that, your confidence level just gets higher and higher.

“Every kid that you bring in here, you know they can throw it. It’s just a matter of buying into the system, trusting the system and then going out and making those plays.”

Uiagalelei, the nation’s top-ranked quarterback recruit, threw for 10,496 yards and 127 touchdowns with just 11 interceptions in his high school career at St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California. As a senior this season, the five-star prospect threw for 4,225 yards and 48 touchdowns against just two interceptions while leading his team to a 13-1 record and state championship.

Uiagalelei was expected to possibly play the role of LSU quarterback Joe Burrow on Clemson’s scout team in advance of Monday’s national title game, though that idea did not come to fruition.

“That was a thought, but they didn’t put pads on,” Streeter said. “They just padded helmets, so we just didn’t want to have an issue with somebody running into him or something like that. And just him not being around much before, just learning how the practice works and stuff.

“But he did get some reps with my drills, and he did get reps after practice. We have a JV period where we have 15 or 20 minutes to work with them, so it’s really good and it was really good for DJ to see kind of the pace of our practice, how our practice works, the logistics and just kind of the expectations. And then he got to be able to see some of the procedural stuff that we do. So, it’s a really good start for him and a head start for him.”

Like many Clemson fans, Streeter is excited to see Uiagalelei go through spring practice and play in the spring game this April.

“It’s so fun to watch these kids progress from the first practice of spring, especially as a freshman, just like Taisun (Phommachanh) did,” Streeter said. “I’m anxious to see DJ his first day to the last day, and all I’m going to ask of him is that he improves every day – just continuing to improve, and he’ll do that. He’s a go-getter and he’s very anxious.”

Streeter loves what Uiagalelei is all about off the field, as well, and believes he has a chance to be the face of Clemson’s program after Lawrence moves on.

According to Streeter, Uiagalelei fits Clemson’s culture and his quarterback room like a glove.

“Absolutely,” he said. “To be honest with you, I wouldn’t go all the way out to California unless it was a perfect fit, and we knew that from when we first started recruiting him. He came to a camp, and we just got to spend a lot of time together and just got to know he and his family and his coaches and just knew that this kid has something to him. Other than just being talented, his character his unbelievable – very humble, very poised. So, really excited about what he’s going to bring to the table off the field. He could be the face of a program type kid.”

A great gift for any Clemson fan. Just one of many great items available from Clemson Variety & Frame