Florida Gators football 2025 catch-up: DJ Lagway’s status, unique staff changes, key additions

Image Credit: Victoria Riccobono, UAA

The dawn of the 2025 college football season is upon us, and there few teams nationally with a greater mix of expectations and question marks than the Florida Gators. Still seeking a return to the top of the sport, Florida concluded the 2024 season by winning four straight games, including two over ranked competition and the final two of the season by a combined total of 64-19.

For the first time since head coach Billy Napier took over the program, it is a player and not the man with the whistle who is the most talked-about person entering the season. That player, of course, is sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, who went undefeated in games he started and finished (5-1 overall) during his debut campaign but enters 2025 having barely practiced — compared to his teammates — this offseason.

The Gators entered 2024 having losing records across three straight seasons for the first time since the 1940s. They enter 2025 seeking double digit wins for the first time since 2019. In order to reach that mark, UF will be forced to go through arguably the nation’s most difficult schedule for the second year in a row; the 2024 slate was the toughest any team faced in college football history. (More on that later this week.)

Unlike last year, Florida will start the season with more of a cupcake opponent when it hosts Long Island on Saturday, Aug. 30 with a 7 p.m. ET kickoff inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. However, the Gators will play three top 10 teams in the first five weeks, meaning that getting off to a hot start will be mandatory to put together a successful season.

Before kickoff arrives, let’s take a look at what Florida has been up to this offseason, both in terms of reconfigurations to the roster and coaching staff as well as redirected intentions from Napier.

The block seat is still hot …

Yes, Napier is technically on the hot seat. After all, more than 90% of all FBS coaches are on the hot seat entering any given season, but Napier’s has cooled off a bit given the way the Gators closed in 2024. This is obvious when one observes the way Florida is discussed and Napier is questioned at a national scale. With a cooled-off seat, though, comes heated-up expectations — just not from Las Vegas.

The Gators’ win total projection sits at seven — the line is 7.5 with the under favored at -140, per Caesars Sportsbook. That would result in a winning season but a one-game drop from 2024 and overall record that is certainly not what Florida should have next to its name in Year 4 under Napier.

What has not helped Napier much to this point has been a regularly rotating set of assistant coaches. The Gators have struggled to create a level of consistency when it comes to voices in the position rooms and on the practice field other than that of Napier.

Florida has three new defensive coaches this season, two of which are co-defensive coordinators despite the program already having a defensive coordinator in Ron Roberts, who is also titled “executive head coach, defense.” Try your best to make sense of that.

Robert Bala (inside linebackers) and Vinnie Sunseri (safeties) are those co-defensive coordinators with Deron Wilson coaching defensive backs (not just cornerbacks). Despite their titles, the three new hires total just five years, combined, of Power Four on-field coaching experience.

The Gators have now hired six new defensive coaches across the last two offseasons.

While the offensive staff remained together — to the dismay of many Florida fans — the lone change to that group (for the second year in a row) was Russ Callaway having his title tweaked. Callaway is now, officially, the Gators “offensive coordinator,” though confusion exists to what that term means under Napier.

Callaway started with the team as a defensive intern in 2022 before becoming tight ends coach in 2023 and adding a co-offensive coordinator title in 2024 alongside Rob Sale. While the “co” has now been removed, Callaway will not be calling plays for Florida like most offensive coordinators do nationally.

“It’s what got me here,” said Napier of calling plays. “It’s how I became the head coach. It’s what’s helped us make progress and win in the past. I’m confident it will help us do that in the future.”

Sale has seemingly had his “offensive coordinator” title removed, this despite Napier claiming that they — as a trio — were responsible for creating the offensive game plans last season. If one is to assume that committee remains, for what reason has a guy in Callaway — who never had a full-time, on-field assistant job at the Power Four or NFL level before 2023 — been promoted four times in as many offseasons?

It has been obvious to everyone attacked to the Gators — analysts national and local, fans, folks of prominence around the University Athletic Association — that Florida’s offense has badly been in need of a new offensive play caller throughout Napier’s tenure. Instead, the team will enter the 2025 season with that role and the offense seemingly unchanged, despite continued alterations to the defense.

No-go DJ

The only consistent part of Lagway’s offseason was his lack of availability — due to no fault of the player, of course. From spring practice through fall camp, Lagway has been sidelined with a shoulder injury for which he did not undergo surgery, a lingering sports hernia for which he underwent surgery, a nagging hamstring strain from the 2024 season and a late calf strain that put him in a temporary walking boot and forced him to miss the start of preseason preparations.

Napier has maintained that the decision making in terms of how the Gators handled Lagway’s shoulder injury, specifically — he did not throw the ball at all until making a few tosses at the tail end of spring practice — has been a concerted, thoughtful process involving doctors, trainers, Lagway and his family.

There is certainly no reason to question what experts in the medical field decided given Lagway’s health is what’s primarily important, but the end result was Florida’s best and most important player in years being largely unavailable during the most crucial offseason for a quarterback’s development — the seven months between the first year he starts and the second. It is this time period that allows good players to become great and great players — with all the potential in the world — to become game-changers.

The insistence from Napier is that Lagway has done everything humanly possible to prepare for the season even during periods when he was unable to practice. Given Lagway’s unquestioned work ethic and dedication to the game and his teammates, there is no doubt that he has prepared to the best of his ability. And with opening games against Long Island and South Florida, he will have as many as eight quarters — most likely six or fewer — to stack live reps that he missed over the prior few months.

Still, considering how important 2025 is for the future of the Gators, not having Lagway at full strength all offseason put the team in a less-fortunate position than many hoped after how he played as a freshman — particularly because Napier has remained steadfast that no player has pulled away as a clear No. 2 behind Lagway, despite offseason additions.

Napier on Monday said Lagway has been a “100% participant” in practice over the last several days. “Players every year at every level of football that go through things like this,” he said. “Just happens to be a quarterback. And he had a heck of a freshman year; there’s a lot of attention that comes with that.”

Stacked but wounded

For Lagway to fully realize his potential, he needs a fleshed out set of playmakers that can not only go up and get the ball down the field but keep the defense honest from the backfield. The roster Napier has comprised around his star pupil looks poised to do exactly that.

Running backs sophomore Jadan Baugh and redshirt senior Ja’Kobi Jackson return after combining for 1,182 yards rushing and 15 total touchdowns a year ago. While the plan was for redshirt sophomore Treyaun Webb to be ready as the primary backup, he underwent hamstring surgery in August with hopes he will be ready to return by Week 3. (Baugh has also been dealing with an injury during camp.) In the interim, redshirt freshman KD Daniels is expected to fill that No. 3 role, even though freshman Byron Louis has impressed during practice.

The wide receiver room is arguably even more stacked. Through Florida lost its top two pass catchers from a year ago, it loaded up substantially through the transfer portal and recruiting process. Redshirt senior J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA via California) steps in as a starter with many believing he will be a breakout candidate for the program given his size and experience level.

Redshirt sophomores Eugene Wilson II and Aidan Mizell will likely take the other starting roles — at least initially — with both players seeking to prove themselves in Year 3 following slow starts to their Gators careers. All eyes will be be on freshmen Vernell Brown III and Dallas Wilson, both of whom may well take spots on the first team sooner than later this season. Five-star talents who continuously impressed in practice, as long as they live up to expectations, they could ensure Florida has as talented a group of pass catchers as it has in about 15 years.

The problem? Wilson — after starring in the Orange & Blue Game with records of 10 caches, 195 yards and two touchdowns — has been sidelined for the last three weeks with a lower leg injury. Wilson, Mizell, redshirt senior Kahleil Jackson and junior tight end Tony Livingston have also been sidelined at times with ailments, too. Given Napier on Monday said the Gators will neither release injury reports nor speak about injuries until Week 3 against LSU, it’s tough to say whether any or all of these players will miss the first game of the season.

New faces everywhere

Tuning into Florida football games this season may leave one scratching their head. Hopefully not due to the play on the field but rather the different faces that will be seen wearing jerseys and polo shirts on Saturdays. Only Gators has covered all of these acquisitions, of course, but allow us to provide a refresher:

Coaches

• Robert Bala — co-defensive coordinator, inside linebackers: Bala spent one season each at Washington and Alabama, his lone Power Four coaching experience. Hepreviously coordinated defenses at … Southern Utah and Palomar, a community college where he also played. Known as a strong recruiter, Bala was expected by many to be promoted to co-defensive coordinator for the Huskies when Jedd Fisch’s coaches left last offseason.
• Vinnie Sunseri — co-defensive coordinator, safeties: Sunseri’s lone Power Four experience came last season coaching safeties at Washington after spending three years leading the running backs for the New England Patriots under BIll Belichick. A former Alabama graduate assistant who won two national titles as a player under Nick Saban, Sunseri is best known for being the son of Sal Sunseri, a career defensive assistant who spent most of his career under Saban but coached the defensive line at Florida in 2018.
• Deron Wilson — defensive backs: Replaced Will Harris, who was new to the staff last year. Wilson had accepted the defensive coordinator ojb at Georgia State before turning around and joining Florida. He was previously the defensive backs coach at Arkansas from 2023-24 and a quality control assistant for the Gators during Napier’s first season.

Transfer players

This is a far smaller and less impactful list than a year ago as Florida appeared to get off to a slow start but also performed better on the recruiting trail.

• WR J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA via Cal): Expected to start. Took a dip in production last season that is expected to be overcome through better quarterback play and play design.
• QB Harrison Bailey (Louisville via Tennessee): Competing for the backup job behind Lagway. Bailey actually started as a true freshman against UF, but he has played sparingly throughout his career. He’s was expected to be the favorite to serve as QB2 given he transferred into the program, but Napier has refused to name him to the role yet.
• P Tommy Doman (Michigan): New starter who averaged 43.4 yards per punt across four seasons. Will likely be a step back from Jeremy Crawshaw but experience should help the unit as a whole.
• Offensive backups: WR Mike Peterson Jr. (Arkansas State)
• Defensive backups: DB Micheal Caraway Jr. (Southern Mississippi), EDGE Kofi Asare (UMass), DL Brendan Bett (Baylor), DB Harold Stubbs IV (Florida State)

Freshmen players

• Five-star WR Vernell Brown III: The No. 30 player in the nation, Brown is competing for a starting job right out of the gate, and he’s flashed plenty of times during practice.
• Five-star WR Dallas Wilson: The No. 35 player in the nation, Wilson impressed during the Orange & Blue Game and may have made even greater highlights during camp. However, his August injury hangs over his ability to get on the field at the start of the season.
• Four-star QB Tramell Jones, Jr.: It would be a surprise if Jones sees the field outside of taking occasional snaps in cupcake games, especially since he’s recovering from an injury, but some who have watched practice remain impressed with his intangibles and believe he could work his way all the way up the depth chart by the later stages of the season.
• Four-star CB Ben Hanks III: The No. 38 player in the nation, Hanks is the leader among a group of talented freshman cornerbacks to see significant snaps as a second-stringer in the secondary.
• Four-stars DB Lagonza Hayward, Drake Stubbs: Playing two positions at safety and Star, Hayward has a better chance at seeing the field early than four-star Drake Stubbs, who was a bit higher rated as a recruit but is almost exclusively playing safety.
• Other offensive signees: OT TJ Dice Jr., RB Duke Clark, WR Naeshaun Montgomery, RB Byron Louis, WR Muizz Tounkara, TE Micah Jones, CB Chad Gaspar Jr., OT Jahari Medlock, OL Daniel Pierre-Louis, TE Cameron Kossmann
• Other defensive signees: EDGE Jayden Woods, EDGE Jalen Wiggins, DL Joseph Mbatchou, LB Ty Jackson, CB J’Vari Flowers, LB Myles Johnson, DL Stephon Shivers, CB Onis Konanbanny, DL Jeremiah McCloud
• Special teams signees: K Evan Noel, P Hayden Craig