DJ Lagway talks fearless mindset in 2025: ‘They gotta play the Florida Gators’
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DJ Lagway showed last season that he was more than ready to lead Florida back to college football relevance.
He’s a budding star quarterback who’s ready to become a superstar in college football, and his 2025 Heisman Trophy odds show that he’s already lifted himself into premier player status. Lagway lifted Florida to its first winning season under Billy Napier in 2024, as the Gators shook off a 4-5 record in November and reeled off 4 straight victories to end the season at 8-5.
Lagway helped engineer wins over LSU and Ole Miss during that stretch run, before he led the Gators to a rout of rival Florida State and a bowl victory over Tulane. Suddenly, the calls to fire Napier were gone, and the coach has received praise for getting the Gators’ fire lit late in the season. But it was also Lagway who came of age, and now there is a wealth of momentum in Gainesville going into the 2025 season.
A lot of that buzz is because of Lagway, and the confident quarterback exuded that confidence to reporters during his session on Wednesday at SEC Media Days in Atlanta.
“Yeah, that was kind of our word for last year. It doesn’t matter who we play … spot the ball. And that’s our saying now. Now, we’re saying, if not win. It doesn’t matter where we are … spot the ball. That’s kind of our mindset, and that’s kind of what we took on when we went down that stretch (last season),” explained Lagway. “It doesn’t matter who stands in front of us. They gotta play the Florida Gators.”
Now, Lagway must back up those bold words this fall, when the games are played. But after last year’s late-season run and Lagway’s star potential, it might not be smart to bet against the Gators in 2025.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
