Billy Napier needed this. Needed to stop the bleeding and gain momentum.

Needed some positive in a sea of negative since his first season at Florida ended with more questions than answers.

This brings us to DJ Lagway, a 5-star quarterback recruit from Texas, who Wednesday chose the Gators over USC, Texas A&M and Baylor.

Lagway is a high school junior, and won’t arrive at Florida until the 2024 season. He’s a blip on the screen, and frankly, may not even play for the Gators until 2025 or later.

But his commitment goes so much deeper than the possibility of eventually playing quarterback.

After a 6-6 season in Year 1, after nearly 20 Florida players have hit the transfer portal in the 3 days it has been open, this was — as much as anything — a statement that had to be made.

Not to the rest of the SEC or the college football, but to high school players and transfer portal players everywhere. If Napier truly is going to turn the fortunes at Florida, there’s only one way: players.

Elite high school players, and elite fits from the transfer portal. Lagway’s commitment allows Napier to sell a top-10 recruiting class for 2023, and what could be much bigger in 2024.

“I’m just excited to get to work and get the No. 1 class,” Lagway said after announcing his choice live on ESPN.

That’s what this is all about: procuring talent. Games are won with elite players. Doesn’t matter where or how you get them, they’re essential for change.

Deep, lasting, significant change.

Not a season of 11-1 overshadowed later on by a loss to Georgia Southern and one to Vanderbilt.

Not a couple of East Division championships overshadowed by bad losses, a failure to beat your rivals and a shark story gone bad.

Not 3 straight New Year’s 6 bowls eventually kneecapped by an inability — really, a refusal — to recruit at an elite level.

Florida needs players, there’s no other way to look at it.

In a perfect world for Napier, the current 2023 class that’s wrapping up over the next 2 weeks gets a jolt from the Lagway 2024 commitment. There are still impact players on the board, and Florida is still chasing (5-star recruits LB James Smith, CB Desmond Ricks, Edge Qua Russaw, to name a few).

In that perfect world, Napier hits on a majority of at least 20 players that Florida likely will sign from the portal. He gets a quarterback (Sam Hartman, Devin Leary?) and a couple of receivers, and he completely revamps his defense.

That’s a difficult lift when you’re trudging through a .500 season and lose every game of significance (Tennessee, LSU, Georgia, Florida State). And the last time you were on the field, your starting quarterback missed a wide-open receiver on the last drive of the game, the ball sailing 20 feet over his head.

Yet maybe the most critically overlooked part of Lagway’s commitment Wednesday was who Florida beat for his services: USC. If there’s 1 program that has more advantages than any other in the new NIL/free player movement world, it’s USC.

The combination of Los Angeles, Hollywood, the desire for players to build their brands on multiple levels — and coach Lincoln Riley’s history of producing Heisman Trophy quarterbacks — leaves USC as the recruiting giant in college football.

That means high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

About 4 hours prior to Lagway’s commitment, Florida mega booster Hugh Hathcock tweeted, “Today! A Great Day to be a Gator!!!”

Hathcock runs 1 of 2 collectives aimed at helping Florida. The Florida Collective is connected officially to the university and uses funds to get NIL deals for current student-athletes.

The Gator Guard, which Hathcock supports and has convinced other high-rolling boosters to support, is not affiliated with the university and can sign deals with high school players.

So Florida and Napier — with 1 year of experience in the SEC and Power 5 football — went up against Riley, who has coached 2 Heisman winners, another runner-up and a finalist this season, and got a commitment from the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback of 2024, according to 247sports.

That’s not just a win, that’s a statement and momentum.

It also stopped the bleeding.