Florida football recruiting: Five-star QB DJ Lagway commits to Gators as centerpiece of 2024 class

By OnlyGators.com Staff
December 7, 2022
Florida football recruiting: Five-star QB DJ Lagway commits to Gators as centerpiece of 2024 class
Football

Image Credit: DJ Lagway / Twitter

Despite the early signing period for the Class of 2023 opening later this month, Florida Gators head coach Billy Napier has made it a point to keep an eye on talent that needs to be acquired well into the future. His extended pursuit of Florida’s top target in the Class of 2024 paid off Wednesday when five-star quarterback DJ Lagway (Willis, TX) committed to the Gators.

Lagway (6-foot-2, 225 pounds), the No. 4 quarterback and No. 24 overall prospect in the 2024 class (per the 247Sports Composite), was the second-highest rated uncommitted signal caller in the cycle with two others already pledged to Ohio State and Alabama.

Despite interest from schools in his home state, Lagway ultimately chose Florida over USC with Baylor, Clemson and Texas A&M also in contention. He took unofficial visits to the Gators on Sept. 10 and Oct. 15 with the Trojans seeing him last on Nov. 26.

Despite that, Napier and lead recruiter Jabbar Juluke kept the full-court press on their top prospect throughout the process to the point that Lagway is committing 1-2 months earlier than he initially intended. He has also been offered the opportunity to play baseball at Florida, though it’s unknown whether he will ultimately choose to be a two-sport athlete.

Should Lagway maintain a similar rating and ultimately sign with the Gators, he will be the program’s highest-rated incoming quarterback in more than a decade (Jeff Driskel, 2011).

With the Class of 2024 still filling out across the country, Lagway’s commitment boosts Florida four spots to No. 10 nationally, per the 247Sports Composite team rankings. Every program rated ahead of the Gators has a higher number of commitments.

Lagway is also the second top-30 player committed to Florida for 2024 alongside four-star linebacker Myles Graham (Atlanta, GA), the son of Earnest Graham. Four-star running back Chauncey Bowens (North Palm Beach, FL) is the third extremely talented member of the class.

Though Lagway would currently be the Gators’ first five-star signee on offense since offensive tackle Martez Ivey in 2015 (first at a playmaking position since RB Kelvin Taylor in 2013), that will likely change later this month. Four-star 2023 QB Jaden Rashada (Pittsburg, CA) is expected to receive a fifth star from 247Sports in the coming days.

Adding Rashada (No. 17 overall) and Lagway would mark the best quarterback recruiting — purely by class ranking — that Florida has ever achieved across consecutive cycles. The only comparison would be the trio of Tim Tebow (No. 21, 2006), Cameron Newton (No. 26, 2007) and John Brantley (No. 30, 2007) signed by Urban Meyer. That group included two Heisman Trophy winners that combined for three national championships.

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