FSU football: Top 10 BOLD predictions for 2024 season

No. 9 DJ Uiagalelai will have 3,500 All-Purpose Yards

Folks seem to fall on one of two sides regarding FSU quarterback DJ Uiagalelei. They either believe he hasn't improved since his time at Clemson because they only look at things like completion percentage, or they look at his time at Oregon State and believe Mike Norvell can unlock even more from the former five-star. I fall into the latter category. Uiagalelai saw his usage change at Oregon State in 2023. He had 129 fewer offensive plays but nearly surpassed his yardage total from his 2022 season at Clemson. Uiagalelei had 315 pass attempts for 2,638 yards and 68 rushing attempts for 219 yards for a total of 2,857 yards in 12 games.

I believe Uiagalelei has a shot to surpass 3,500 total yards. He has a great offensive line protecting him and outstanding speed and large targets compared to Oregon State. He'll improve his completion percentage from 57 percent to 60-62 percent. I think we'll see him average 6-7 rush attempts per game. He'll likely get close to 300 or more rushing yards, which means he'll need to reach 3,200 passing yards. His career high was 2,638 last year, but that involved throwing fewer than 20 passes in two games. He'd need to average 275 yards per game, and I expect FSU to hit a lot of explosive plays through the air.