Hand up. Florida had more to like in 2024 than I ever imagined.
If you had asked me what I liked about Florida at this time last year, I would’ve told you something snarky like “the quarterback situation could be worse and football season only lasts 3 months.” I was wrong. Well, not about the quarterback situation. Graham Mertz’s injury opened the door for DJ Lagway to shine as a true freshman. While Billy Napier already had a vote of confidence from athletic director Scott Stricklin before the 4-game winning streak to end the season, it certainly didn’t hurt that Lagway led the late-season turnaround.
Lagway’s shoulder injury, which prevented him from throwing until May, was about the only thing that separated Florida from being the “Ultimate Good Vibes Team” this offseason. But assuming that Lagway will make a full return for fall without any setbacks in camp, there’s a ton to like in Gainesville.
Snarky comments, take a hike.
There’s no better time to be positive than talkin’ season. That’s what I always say. Each of the next 16 days, we’ll look at the best things about each SEC team. This daily series will align with the SEC Network Takeover, which runs from Saturday, June 28 until July 13, AKA just before talkin’ season officially kicks off at SEC Media Days on July 14.
For those keeping track at home, that’s alphabetical order.
So far, here are the teams that we’ve done:
Today, we’ll continue with the best things about Florida in 2025:
Best offensive player: DJ Lagway, QB (but probably Jake Slaughter)
I don’t want to disrespect a returning All-American like Slaughter, who is clearly Florida’s most established player at his position among all returners. He’s excellent, which we saw last year when he allowed 0 QB hits and 1 sack on 402 pass-blocking snaps. He did that while posting PFF’s No. 2 run-blocking grade among all Power Conference centers. Slaughter played a massive role in Florida running for 178 yards per game in the final 7 contests, which was a stretch that saw Florida post a 5-2 record with the lone losses coming to Playoff-bound SEC Championship Game participants Georgia and Texas (both were with 3rd-string QB Aidan Warner playing the majority of the snaps).
But yeah, Lagway is the straw that stirs the drink. There’s no denying that.
While he still worked through some freshman mistakes last year — some of the pre-snap reads in the bowl game reminded everyone that he’s still got room to improve — the “good” was remarkably good. It wasn’t just that Lagway led that 4-game winning streak; it was the degree of difficulty of his throws. He was 6th in FBS with a 52.8% adjusted completion percentage on throws 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage (min. 20 such attempts). On top of that, Lagway only took a sack on 17.6% of the dropbacks in which he was pressured, which was extremely promising for a true freshman who was limited with the hamstring injury that he suffered against Georgia. I’d argue that some his best throws came when facing that pressure.
There are questions about the health of Lagway’s shoulder and whether he can get on the same page as a new-look receiver room. But with veterans like Tre Wilson (back from injury) and J. Michael Sturdivant leading the way, perhaps a missed spring won’t prove as costly.
If Lagway can stay healthy and clean up some of those Year 1 mistakes — neither is a guarantee — Florida will have something cooking.
Best defensive player: Tyreak Sapp, Edge
You could go with Caleb Banks here, but I’ll instead go with the guy who was the more impactful playmaker. Sapp led Florida with 13 tackles for loss (8 came in the final 3 regular-season games), 7 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. He also had 22 run-game stops, which ranked No. 3 among SEC edge-rushers. Sapp and Banks returning to school was monumental because Florida has 2 guys who should be at the top of every scouting report.
Sapp’s emergence played a major role in Florida’s defensive turnaround. Allowing 13 points per game in the final 4 contests was an even more promising sign than Lagway’s play. This is still a unit with 1 All-SEC defensive player during the Napier era (Princely Umanmielen … who transferred to Ole Miss). Sapp and Banks helped lead Florida to its best scoring defense finish (No. 42) of the 2020s. If Sapp plays like he did during that final month, there’s no reason why Florida’s defense can’t take another step in 2025.
Best freshman: Dallas Wilson, WR
After Wilson caught roughly 658 passes in the spring game, the former Oregon verbal pledge is obvious choice here. No, that effort wasn’t with Lagway at quarterback, but Wilson’s spring-game showing has Florida fans understandably excited about his Year 1 potential. It’s been a minute since Florida had a big, physical receiver who could challenge secondaries outside the hashes. Wilson can become that.
As impressive as a 10-catch spring game showing was, I wouldn’t set expectations at a Jeremiah Smith level for someone who figures to line up a ton on the outside, but the flashes figure to be special. Wilson can still make his presence felt with a 500-600 yard season and 4-6 touchdowns. Given the history of SEC true freshman wide receivers — Ryan Williams became the first SEC true freshman wide receiver to hit 850 receiving yards since 2015 — that would be an impressive feat. Anything more than that and Florida’s offense will be taking on heights that we haven’t seen in the Napier era.
Best game: Nov. 1 vs. Georgia (in Jacksonville)
You could’ve easily gone with the LSU or Texas games, both of which will be appointment viewing because of the quarterback matchups alone. I won’t argue against those matchups as monumental tests for the Gators in the first part of the schedule.
But Georgia takes the cake here for a variety of reasons. Let’s not forget that Lagway got hurt when Florida led 10-3 in Jacksonville. While he was still trying to establish some consistency, you still saw what he was capable of with that home-run play ability.
Does Florida beat Georgia if Lagway stays healthy? Probably, but that’s obviously not worth much. More relevant is that Lagway will, if he hopefully stays healthy, have another shot at the Dawgs. Florida fans know that a Kirby Smart-led Georgia is still the ultimate measuring stick for the Gators. This could open or close a path to the Playoff in what’ll be the final Cocktail Party in Jacksonville until 2028.
Any storybook season for Florida includes knocking off Georgia for the first time since 2020.
Best reason for improvement: It’s finally a trenches team
You thought I was going to point to yet another example of why Lagway is different? Nah. That’s part of it, but this is more about what Napier built at the line of scrimmage. That’s been lacking throughout the 2020s in Gainesville. This is finally a team that should have several All-SEC guys in the trenches — Florida ranks No. 18 in FBS in percentage of returning production with guys like Sapp, Slaughter, Austin Barber and Caleb Banks all as way-too-early Round 1 prospects — which always has been and always will be the best floor-raiser that one can have.
Think back to last year. Florida had 2 quarterbacks go down on hits in the backfield that forced them to miss starts. And defensively, that 4-game winning streak to end the season wasn’t just the Lagway element. The Gators put together their most impressive defensive stretch of the 2020s, which isn’t saying much, but it was pivotal. In the first 9 games, Florida allowed 167 rushing yards per contest. In the last 4 games, it allowed 109 on just 2.9 yards/carry.
This is the type of team that Napier hoped to build. The foundation took 4 years to build, but it’s finally there.
Will another daunting schedule stand in the way of improvement? It’s possible. After all, half the schedule is against teams that won 9-plus games in 2024, 4 of which are away from home. The margin for error is slim to none. A Lagway injury or a lack of continuity on the offensive line could prove costly for Florida, AKA the 2025 agents of chaos.
But if Napier can’t find a way to build off last year’s mid-season turnaround, it’ll be an opportunity wasted in The Swamp.
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.
