ATLANTA — As a pair of media members left DJ Lagway’s podium, they said to each other exactly what was on my mind.
“That was great.”
“What a nice guy.”
Spend 20 minutes with Lagway, and you’ll likely have some similar takeaways. You’ll also probably say something like, “dang, that’s a big dude.”
All are accurate descriptions of Lagway, who might be as dissected as any non-Arch Manning player in America in 2025. That’s not just because the Florida quarterback is in the preseason Heisman Trophy conversation. Between the shoulder injury that sidelined him from throwing in the offseason until May and the fact that he’s playing for a coach who got a November vote of confidence, Lagway’s future is all sorts of intriguing.
But for now, there’s no denying just how impressive he is. It was easy to forget that he’s a 19-year-old entering Year 2. He shook a few media members’ hands as he approached his podium … where he took the stage and immediately got asked a question about the health of his shoulder.
“Oh man, I’m feeling great,” Lagway said. “I’m excited to just get out there and compete with the guys. Any time I can get out there with my teammates, just having fun, competing, I’m a happy guy.”
Florida will be a happy team if Lagway can avoid any sort of shoulder setbacks. Billy Napier expressed full confidence that his QB1 will be ready to go for the start of the season with the ability to make all the throws. He also shared that Lagway actually got a throwing session in on Wednesday morning, and that he’s now throwing 3 times a week after not throwing a football during Florida’s spring practice. Lagway answered those questions in stride and talked about how he felt like the rehab process allowed him to hone in on his mechanics.
He even addressed the wackiest of internet rumors about his arm.
That’s a positive development. Another positive development would be if Lagway built on some ridiculously impressive downfield numbers — he had an FBS-best 20.4 yards/attempt on throws that traveled 20 yards downfield — by continuing to develop in the intermediate passing game, where he was more turnover-prone. He talked about the 9 interceptions and the decision-making that led to that in his first season.
It was an understandable flaw for true freshman in any spot, much less one who battled injuries against a grueling schedule.
“I was just out there, you know?” Lagway said. “I was just thankful to be out there. I was hurting. I was playing through a lot of injury and adversity, even before the Miami game. Just being out there, that’s all that mattered to me. I’m excited to continue to get better. That’s all I’m focused on. Last year, it was OK by my standard. I hear all the outside noise, but to me, I feel like I have a lot more to prove to myself and a lot more things to accomplish.”
At the same time, it’s hard to ignore the praise that Lagway already earned. He was a true freshman All-American by a variety of publications after he had the best QB rating (154.9) among all FBS true freshmen. He went 6-1 as a starter with the lone loss being the Georgia game, which he was unable to finish after suffering a hamstring injury while Florida led 10-3.
But beyond the numbers were Lagway’s jaw-dropping highlight-reel throws.
Gracing the cover of EA Sports College Football ’26 with Tim Tebow was an offseason highlight for Lagway, as was being named Florida’s representative on the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Ahead of his second season, Lagway has already been involved with the Special Olympics, Made for More in Gainesville and he made a 6-figure donation to Florida’s NIL collective, Florida Victorious, to support the university’s women’s programs on International Women’s Day.
How impressed with Lagway is Florida legend Danny Wuerffel?
“In just about every way,” Wuerffel said. “Just a phenomenal young man. Comes from a great family. You look at his athletic ability, he’s got the skills you hope a quarterback will develop. Hey, whole game is on the line and I’m gonna throw it downfield and make a heroic throw at the right time and just deliver. It’s almost like he learned how to sprint before he learned how to crawl.”
It’s certainly felt more like a “sprint” than a “crawl” so far. Maybe things will slow down a touch, or perhaps last year was part of Lagway’s continued ramp-up to the big stage.
Time will tell if Lagway can join the fellow Florida quarterback in the Heisman Trophy fraternity. He acknowledged that those outside conversations are there, though that’s not new. A 5-star recruit and Gatorade National Player of the Year came into Florida well aware of all the hype.
“God has given me all this hype, is what you would say,” Lagway said. “But I just want to go out there and play football. That’s all I love and that’s all I want to do.”
As long as Lagway is healthy — he reiterated that he didn’t have a procedure on his shoulder and that he just rehabbed — that’s going to make Florida must-see TV. The way that last year ended with Lagway leading Florida to a 4-game winning streak, one couldn’t help but wonder if the Gators wished that they could’ve had another 6 games to continue their late momentum.
“For sure. We were rolling,” Lagway said. “Everything was clicking. The way everybody was playing together, I feel like the cohesiveness of the defense and the offense, the way were playing off each other, it was amazing. I feel like if we had 6 more games, it definitely would’ve been fun.”
Six more games (but hopefully more) of Lagway sounds like a fun experience. Expect to be impressed.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
