Florida Gators injury updates: QB DJ Lagway not expected to play, WR Eugene Wilson out for season

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Image Credit: UAA

The walking-wounded Florida Gators do not look to be getting healthier anytime soon. After already losing their starting quarterback earlier this season — and playing the last few weeks without their starting running back as well — the Gators are expected to be without the second stringers at both positions as well on Saturday against the No. 5 Texas Longhorns.

Florida will also play without its No. 1 wide receiver as sophomore Eugene Wilson III, who underwent hip surgery on Tuesday and is expected to miss the remainder of the season, according to multiple reports. Having only played four games this season while catching just 19 passes for 266 yards and a touchdown, Wilson never contributed as much as most expected. Now he will be eligible for a medical redshirt.

“Tre’s injury has been lingering,” head coach Billy Napier said Monday. “It’s been an issue that he’s had for quite a while that we’ve been navigating. At times, he’s been able to produce, and then there will be setbacks.”

Freshman quarterback DJ Lagway, who injured his hamstring late in the second quarter against Georgia, is considered a long shot to step on the field in his home state this weekend, sources close to the program told Only Gators.

Lagway is said to have a Grade 2 hamstring strain, a partial tear, according to multiple reports. With intense and successful rehabilitation, such an injury should keep him out of action an absolute minimum of two weeks but potentially four or longer. UF has four games remaining in its regular season.

When Florida’s injury report is released Wednesday night by head coach Billy Napier, the status of senior running back Montrell Johnson Jr. will be critical. Johnson has missed the last two games — over three weeks — with a lower body injury suffered on the road against Tennessee, the same game in which redshirt senior QB Graham Mertz was knocked out for the season with a torn ACL.

Though freshman Jadan Baugh and redshirt junior Ja’Kobi Jackson have both played exceedingly well in Johnson’s stead, the chosen backup entering the season was sophomore Treyaun Webb, who has not played since Sept. 21 and is now reportedly set to undergo surgery for a fractured tibia. That would almost assuredly put Webb out for the campaign, especially considering he could claim a medical redshirt like Wilson after only playing four games.

All combined, Florida may enter its fourth game against an opponent currently ranked in the top 10 without its top two quarterbacks, top two running backs and No. 1 receiver. For a Gators offense that believed itself to be retooled this season, that’s certainly quite a blow entering a crucial stretch against three top 25 opponents and an in-state rival.