Florida Football Friday Final: Will the DJ Lagway problem become a solution for Gators at Miami?

Image Credit: Maddie Washburn, UAA

Through three-plus weeks of the 2025 college football season, the man expected to be the Florida Gators’ savior has been perhaps its greatest hinderance to achieving any level of success. Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, the highest-recruited signal caller since Jeff Driskel with a skillset that could make him the most successful at his position since Tim Tebow, has been inconsistent at times and simply bad at other times.

While the second-year standout has completed 71% of his passes through 2.5 games, his 6.3 yards per attempt is well short of his average from his freshman season (10.0). He has thrown five touchdowns and six interceptions with a five-pick game last week at LSU making him the first Florida player to hit such a low since Shane Matthews in 1992.

There are plenty of reasons for Lagway’s struggles, but none of them are excuses. While Lagway healed a sports hernia and later a lower leg injury in the offseason, a mutual decision to forgo shoulder surgery — instead going without throwing the football at all until the late spring and not practicing until just before the regular season — has proven costly.

The most important offseason in a quarterback’s career is said to be the one between his first and second year either in college or the NFL. Lagway spent his offseason watching film and doing shadow drills. His lack of participation not only stunted his growth, it has clearly led to a regression.

“We are living in the present,” head coach Billy Napier said Wednesday when asked about Lagway’s readiness coming out of the offseason and whether the situation should have been handled differently. “… We don’t have control over that. What we do have control over is how we get better this week. … We went through what we went through.

“Certainly, it wasn’t ideal. We’ve said that in the past. Sometimes, things don’t go your way. Sometimes, there’s adversity. I’m confident that we’ll look up down the road and there will be some benefit for him — it’ll test his mental toughness, maybe there will be some callouses that come with this.”

The only way Lagway could have not developed callouses through the first 100 passes of his second season is if he had prior unknown experience as a construction worker.

The issues have been multiple. Lagway is sailing passes to open pass catchers, not setting his feet properly when releasing the football, taking unnecessary risks in key situations, and overall, looking snap to snap like a player who has not figured out the cadence of college football.

If LSU had been his first opponent of the season, perhaps his struggles would have been understandable circumstantially. However, Lagway was similarly unable to thrive and dominate lesser opponents like LIU and South Florida.

Asked Monday how the Gators can help Lagway, his coach did not necessarily provide a specific answer. Rather, he continued to stress the importance of making the most out of each practice repetition. Napier bristled when asked about Lagway’s penchant for overthrows, which were not a symptom of his inexperience during his freshman season. He was willing to dig deeper when asked about his signal caller’s five interceptions against LSU.

“I can deal with the ones where we miss, maybe we’re a little inaccurate, and it’s a great play by the other team,” he said. “Two of the interceptions are the ones that get me the most — the one right before half and the one at the kick line on the 36. The others are going to happen. That’s my job as a coach to help him understand the situation. … Those are the two we want to make sure he remembers and learns [from] because he’ll be put in those situations in the future.”

Napier also indicated that criticisms of Lagway’s footwork are largely accurate, saying most of his missed throws come from not setting and planting as he has been taught: “You got to always remember that the mental contributes to the physical. Got to be airtight from a progression standpoint. Typically, that allows you to anticipate better, be a little bit sharper with your feet and the ball goes to the right spot.”

There’s no doubting Lagway’s innate talent. This is not a quarterback who was misidentified or overrated by coaches, evaluators and analysts. Whether he has been put in the best position to succeed by the decision makers around him — his coaches, his doctors and his family — is another conversation altogether.

“It is what it is at this point,” Napier said. “We’ve seen him at his best, and then we’ve seen him struggle. The important part is we try to get him back to where he can play winning football, which we know he’s very capable of.”

The circumstances will not get any easier for Florida or Lagway going forward. Faced with the nation’s toughest schedule for the second straight year, UF will play its second of four straight top 10 opponents Saturday when it visit No. 4 Miami.

While the Hurricanes did allow 24 points to their lone Power Four opponent this season, the Gators’ inability to score remains their greatest obstacle. Florida’s defense has only allowed two touchdowns in 12 quarters. A program that started 14-0 under Napier when holding opponents to 20 points or fewer has lost consecutive games while allowing 18 and 20 points, respectively.

“We’re really, really close — just looking at the tape. We need to find a way to play with more consistency on offense going forward. … When the student maybe struggles on the test, as the teacher, you got to take a good look in the mirror,” Napier said.

“… If we are able to get back in our rhythm offensively and generate points and yards, we can be tough to deal with [as a team]. … I do think we’ve excelled so far on defense and in the kicking game.”

Six Bits

Avoiding 1-3: Despite the Gators’ struggles, they have an opportunity to enter their first of two off weeks this season with a 2-2 record, including a win over a top-five opponent. Asked this week if he felt like he was coaching for his job, Napier dismissed such a notion stating he was simply trying to solve problems. “You try to find the right combination of things to help. We were a handful of plays from winning [the LSU] game Saturday. You got to try to be as objective as you can, and you got to be consumed with helping the players.”

Napier said “nothing surprises me anymore” when it comes to Florida’s 1-2 start, insisting the program is “really close” and needs to just “keep chipping away” at improving. “We could easily be 3-0 right now. Probably a dozen plays away from being 3-0,” he added. “You can look at it that way, or you can walk around here with your head hanging down, which is certainly not what we’re going to do.”

Down and up: After missing the first two games of the season continuing to rehab from an offseason foot injury, redshirt senior defensive lineman Caleb Banks is back on the injured list having reaggravated his ailment in the second half against LSU. Napier admitted this week that Banks is basically out indefinitely having undergone surgery on Wednesday.

While defense has suffered a loss, the offense looks to be getting back a much-needed additional weapon. Freshman wide receiver Dallas Wilson, who starred with two touchdowns in the Orange & Blue Game this spring, is expected to be cleared next week from a lower-leg injury suffered in August. While it’s possible Napier misspoke, the coach said Wilson is expected to start the following game against No. 8 Texas.

Exorcising the demons: Redshirt sophomore cornerback Cormani McClain was elevated into the starting lineup against LSU and appeared as if he made the most of the opportunity in the game. After an extremely odd recruitment and difficult start to his playing career, McClain, a five-star recruit, walked on to Florida’s team last season after transferring from Colorado. Behavioral issues kept him from initially progressing as the Gators hoped, but McClain came on late in the 2024 season and appears to have kept his nose clean while simultaneously improving on the field entering 2025.

“Cormani had some discipline issues when he first got here; those have faded away. He’s still growing and maturing — there’s a high ceiling there — but the main thing is his attitude is where it needs to be, and he’s got the mindset,” Napier said. “I’m proud of him. He’s talking a lot more, he’s communicating better, he’s presenting himself well, and he’s being a good teammate. He’s going to keep getting better; he’s still a young man.”

Missing in action: Running backs coach Jabbar Juluke – an original member of Napier’s staff – was suspended three games in an agreement between UF and the SEC this week following his actions ahead of the LSU game. Juluke was involved in a pregame scuffle during warmups that ultimately led to every player on each team being assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Napier this week said Juluke will continue coaching the team up until it departs for the stadium with his game day responsibilities being absorbed by the staff.

Asked whether he expected any similar issue to occur ahead of the Florida-Miami kickoff, Napier was adamant that the LSU situation was a one-off: “Before the 90-minute mark, there’s a long field and a short field. We have a very disciplined routine. We go where we’re supposed to be. We have a routine, and we’ve been doing it. … We’ll continue doing it exactly the same. … Certainly, we expect the same from the other team.”

Stretching the field: Napier spoke about the emergence of redshirt sophomore WR Aidan Mizell, who like classmate Eugene Wilson III, appears to be finally healthy this season. “As he has been healthy, his role has always been present. … His speed, his length, and now that he’s played a little bit of ball, his experience [have been beneficial],” the coach said. “It’s not too big for him. He kind of rises to the occasion on the big stage, and we’re going to need him to continue to do that. His biggest issue since he’s been here has been his health and durability, and he’s working hard to resolve those things that have been problems for him in the past.”

Holding (the Gators) back: The most consistent part of Florida football through Napier’s four seasons has been untimely penalties – particularly from the offensive line despite it having two position coaches, unlike basically any other team in the nation. The offensive line has severely hampered the Gators through their two losses this season, but after evaluating LSU game tape, Napier seemed rather unbothered by its penchant for making mistakes that push the team back. While this quote was part of a longer explanation, it sounded a bit ridiculous when other quality teams nationally have veteran lines that do not make these same mistakes each week.

“No [overall] concern there,” Napier said of the penalties. “Obviously, we want to see those go away, but I think we’re comfortable with why those happen, what contributed to all of those.”