GAINESVILLE — Did DJ Lagway really just do that?

Did he just walk into his first start in The Swamp, at a place where they have statues of 3 Heisman winning quarterbacks outside the stadium, and throw for a Florida freshman record 456 yards and 3 touchdown passes?

Did he really just make this play and throw only a few human on the planet can make — quite literally throwing Florida receiver Aidan Mizell open — when flushed from the pocket in the third quarter?

https://twitter.com/StadiumAndGale/status/1832588550262362417

You want to do the disclaimers? Sure, let’s do the disclaimers.

Yes, the opponent was FCS Samford.

Yes, Texas A&M, which visits Gainesville next week, is a whole different animal.

But as fans of the sport of football, you know special when you see it.

A fan’s life well-lived involves taking in hundreds if not thousands of games and while it can be hard to distinguish one from another at times, you remember the moments when you first saw something or someone phenomenal.

Herschel. Peyton. Tebow. Cam. Johnny Football. Bryce. Burrow.

You know it when you see it.

Greatness, whether at its zenith or the burgeoning, bubbling up from the surface kind still in infancy, just looks different.

It’s especially different at at the quarterback position, where the difference between serviceable and good and great is a magical throw here and a brilliant 3rd-down conversion there.

Which brings us back to DJ Lagway. Who cares if that was “just Samford?”

Lagway just looks different.

To say Lagway shined in his first start for Florida undersells it.

Earlier this week, I wrote that Lagway would inject enthusiasm and joy into the fan base by making his first start Saturday night in The Swamp. I reckoned one Saturday of joy would do for a program playing its one “buy game” in a season when the Gators will play potentially the most difficult schedule in the history of college football

Lagway did much more than that in Saturday’s 45-7 win.

What he did was bring a fan base from the depths of despair to the precipice of hope in one fell four quarter swoop.

“That was impressive,” Florida coach Billy Napier said after the game, underselling it in the way a rural central Florida basement dweller might undersell the need for flood insurance. “It’s never too big for the guy. It’s almost like it raises his level a little bit.”

A little bit?

Here’s how much Lagway raised the explosive nature of Florida’s offense.

Prior to Saturday night, Florida quarterbacks in the Napier era had thrown just 1 70-yard pass (Anthony Richardson in 2022). DJ Lagway threw 2 of those tonight with 77- and 85-yard completions — while also throwing 36- and 41-yard touchdown passes.

Did I mention Lagway did all this while playing with a bruised shoulder that he banged up in fall camp? Lagway rarely threw in Monday and Tuesday’s practice.

I guess we’re just talkin’ practice, though. Not a game.

Speaking of practice, when Florida’s senior quarterback Graham Mertz clears concussion protocol, he’ll go back to being QB 1 at Florida, according to Napier.

“We’re going to stay the course,” Napier said of his decision to go back to Mertz as Florida’s starter. “But as we described in the beginning, we’ll have a plan for DJ every week moving forward. He brings a different element to our team and we intend to play him every week. He’ll be a part of the plan moving forward.”

He better be.

Florida’s only path to 6 or 7 wins is much more Lagway.

The warts were still on display Saturday night.

The right side of the offensive line surrendered multiple pressures to an undersized FCS front.

The defense spent a half struggling mightily on third down.

The play-calling was bland at times and bizarre at others, like when Florida ran into an 8-man front against single high coverage on 2nd-and-8 in the first half, forcing Lagway into an immediate 3rd-and-7, a tough spot for any quarterback much less a true freshman making his first start.

Lagway made the pain of all that go away.

Here’s the reality, for everyone reading who like me, feels for Graham Mertz, one of the SEC’s most accurate and efficient quarterbacks.

After Lagway’s throw to Mizell, a great friend texted me some wisdom.

“Did Napier just walk into a Kelly Bryant/Trevor Lawrence situation?”

The comparison is perfect because like Bryant, Mertz is a good quarterback. Bryant, after all, led Clemson to a College Football Playoff. Kelly Bryant didn’t do anything wrong. Trevor Lawrence was just that good.

Dabo knew it when he saw it. Someone that special just looks different.

Mertz will start the Texas A&M game, which despite it being just Week 3 feels like one of the defining moments of Florida’s season and perhaps Napier’s final inflection point.

But while Mertz will start, it’s Lagway who gives the Gators what seemed distant a week ago — hope. A spark.

After the game, Lagway was asked why he stuck with his Florida commitment after last season’s 5-7 campaign.

“Billy Napier, for one,” Lagway responded, before flashing a grin and saying, “Go Gators.”

Lagway’s faith in Napier, along with his gargantuan talent, mean the curtain isn’t yet closed on Napier’s story as head football coach at the University of Florida.

But let’s be real, shall we? The longer Napier leashes Lagway, the closer Napier gets to the axe.

What’s that saying Florida’s head coach is fond of?

Scared money don’t make money.

A good maxim to follow.

Especially when you have the most talented freshman quarterback at Florida since the last Gator quarterback to hold a Heisman.