The Florida State Seminoles were an absolute disaster in 2024, following up a season where they went unbeaten in regular season play and won the ACC Championship with a 2-10 season where they only won one game in conference play. Part of the reason was that Mike Norvell's transfer class didn't gel or live up to their expectations, which happened at just about every position.
The biggest failure came at the quarterback position as DJ Uiagalelei regressed after showing that he rebounded at Oregon State. The Seminoles QB completed just 53.8% of his passes for 1,065 yards and 4 touchdowns and 6 interceptions before a hand injury ended his season just 5 games into the season.
When DJ Uiagalelei started his college career he arrived at Clemson as the 2nd best recruit in the Country and the Nation's top recruit. If someone told you after Uiagalelei's incredible game against Notre Dame in 2020 that he'd go undrafted it would've sounded insane. A massive part of the reason that Uiagalelei didn't hear his name called this Spring was how the season ended up playing out.
While both sides can take as much or as little of the blame as they want, Dave Uiagalelei DJ's father has found where he's placing his blame. After DJ Uiagalelei debuted with the Chargers in the Hall of Fame game, his father reposted a tweet slamming Mike Norvell and his staff.
I saw DJU lead a TD Drive in his NFL Debut—The Nation owes DJU and @DUiagalelei an Apology for what they said about DJ last year—NOT HIS FAULT HIS NFL TALENT WAS SQUANDERED BY THE “NORVELL KNOW-NOTHING” STAFF AT FSU!!!!!!! BEST OF WISHES TO DJU!!!!
— Timothy Johnson (@MiamiCanes1971) August 2, 2025
Whether you agree with the sentiment or not, the phrase "Norvell know-nothing" is genuinely hilarious. Bringing in DJ Uiagalelei was always an interesting decision by Mike Norvell as it wasn't a great fit for the system which ended up being the case last season.
While Mike Norvell and his staff mismanaged the situation, DJ Uiagalelei certainly deserves his share of the blame for how the season unfolded. If Uiagalelei was a great player, he never would've left Clemson and after his time at Oregon State he could've went to the NFL but, the league knew he was a flawed player.
Dave Uiagalelei will be among the many watching Mike Norvell's every move this season as the Seminoles will need to bounce back from an abysmal season.