DJ Lagway being sidelined in spring with a shoulder injury wasn’t the 2025 preamble that Florida fans hoped for when 2024 concluded. That much we know.
We also knew that heading into Florida’s un-televised spring game on Saturday, Lagway’s involvement would be minimal at best as he nursed an injured shoulder (he handed the ball off 5 times and didn’t throw a pass). That wasn’t news.
What was news was what Billy Napier said afterward about Lagway returning to throwing in a couple of weeks, which would put him on track to be a full participant during OTAs in June:
#Gators coach Billy Napier said DJ Lagway will be 100% when OTAs begin, will starting throwing in a 'couple of weeks.' Positive news for sophomore QB.
— Edgar Thompson (@osgators) April 12, 2025That is indeed positive news. If Lagway is 100% for the start of the season, Florida will have one of the best quarterbacks in the sport. I’ll call that “majorly positive news.”
The Gators and their 2025 outlook deserve the benefit of the doubt with this whole situation … to a certain extent.
Call me crazy, but there would’ve been great value in Lagway spending all spring throwing with the first-teamers. He didn’t have that opportunity last year with Graham Mertz still locked in as the starter, and even when he went down and Lagway took over, his hamstring injury in the Georgia game limited his practice reps. To this point in Lagway’s well-documented start to his career, he hasn’t had consistent first-team reps as a healthy quarterback. Hence, why Napier said that the former 5-star quarterback is “frustrated.”
Even the most talented quarterback on the planet — something that Lagway could prove to be — needs those reps. And for what it’s worth, physical reps are far more valuable than just calling plays and getting mental reps.
There’s another part of Lagway’s limited spring that’s worth remembering. Florida’s top 2 receivers in 2025 are expected to be third-year player Tre Wilson, who had an injury-plagued 2024 season that limited him to 4 games of action, and true freshman Dallas Wilson, who had a ridiculous 10 catches for 195 yards in the spring game.
makin' moves @18Dallaswilson pic.twitter.com/8jhyVsHQYS
— Florida Gators Football (@GatorsFB) April 13, 2025Along with the versatile Aidan Mizell, a potentially healthy Kahleil Jackson coming off the torn ACL and UCLA transfer J. Michael Sturdivant, Florida could boast a versatile, talented receiver room unlike any that it had the past 4 years. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that there’s still such a limited rapport with Lagway, at least in live-game action. Here’s the breakdown of production of those 5 guys with Lagway in 2024:
Wilson: 12 catches, 239 yards Mizell: 9 catches, 142 yards Sturdivant: At UCLA Jackson: 0 catches in 1 game of action before tearing ACL Wilson: In high schoolNote that half of those catches (6) and all but 98 of those receiving yards from Wilson came vs. FCS Samford. Also, note that 41 of Mizell’s yards came … vs. FCS Samford. Any way you slice it, that’s not a ton of time working together at full speed against SEC competition.
Lagway’s frustration could continue into the start of the regular season if there’s a learning curve that awaits. The schedule might not be considered historically daunting, but games 3-6 could expose potential continuity issues in the passing game. Just in case you forgot what that stretch entails, it’s:
Game 3: at LSU Game 4: at Miami Game 5: vs. Texas Game 6: at Texas A&MFlorida will need an in-sync passing game just to split those games, which didn’t happen last year. Some of that could be blamed on quarterback health. This year, quarterback health cannot be a constant topic of discussion. No disrespect to the well-traveled Harrison Bailey and former Yale transfer Aidan Warner — as well as a potential post-spring QB addition — but this year will be defined by Lagway’s development. Anything that hinders that could have a massive say in 2025 and beyond.
It’s fair to wonder if Lagway’s spring could lead to a slow start to SEC play. It’s also fair to wonder if Lagway can make a herky-jerky spring a distant memory by mid-September. Nobody should be surprised if that happens. Lagway is the same guy who walked into the SEC and made jaw-dropping NFL-level throws.
DJ Lagway is already special, man pic.twitter.com/1wJuBmBRix
— Connor O'Gara (@cjogara) November 23, 2024Yeah, it’s nice to remember when Lagway’s shoulder looked fully healthy instead of it being at the forefront of every Florida conversation all spring. The hushed nature of Lagway’s availability only added to the frustrating spring.
I wouldn’t expect to get much insight on Lagway’s progress until fall camp. If his shoulder doesn’t progress in the timetable that Napier mapped out, offseason skepticism will turn into in-season panic. That’s reality. Reality is that many will then wonder why Lagway didn’t have surgery on it at the end of Florida’s regular season when Napier’s job was already saved. Or rather, many more will wonder that.
Lagway’s offseason plan of avoiding surgery in hopes that rest and rehab will work wonders could prove to be beneficial. Until we have reason to believe that plan is doomed, I’ll continue to expect to see the full version of Lagway in 2025.
Anything less than that and “frustrating” would be the ultimate understatement.
Why I’m giving Florida the benefit of the doubt with this DJ Lagway situation … to an extent Saturday Down South.
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