Dabo Swinney has made it abundantly clear that he has DJ Uiagalelei's back as the quarterback faced considerable scrutiny for a surprisingly difficult season as the starter.

The head man always gives his quarterbacks the benefit of the doubt, particularly in public, and the byproducts of that are positive.

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But just the same, there are no illusions on Swinney's part about how much better the quarterback needs to be for this offense to perform at the desired level.

Last year there was no one behind Uiagalelei to push him, and the story of how they missed on Taisun Phommachanh was a relative footnote compared to the shock and awe over Uiagalelei not looking much like the guy who performed so well in emergency duty against Boston College and Notre Dame in 2020.

Well, now they have a different dude back there looking over Uiagalelei's shoulder and perhaps even breathing down his neck.