Since his arrival prior to the 2022 season, Florida head coach Billy Napier has been treading water. But after going 11-14 over his first two seasons in Gainesville, a lifeline by the name of DJ Lagway emerged for him last season. Now that lifeline may be drifting away.
With yesterday’s news that Lagway is currently in a walking boot two days before the start of Florida’s preseason camp, there is reason for concern in Gainesville. The savior quarterback, who had picked up plenty of hype during the offseason, was ironically named to the 2025 Maxwell Award watch list only a few hours before news of the injury broke. Now there are more questions than answers.
There has not been any official word from Florida regarding the severity of the injury, but the unofficial chatter is that it is not severe. That information should keep the panic down a bit in Gainesville. But considering Lagway has already dealt with several injuries during his short career, it also is not a positive trend.
During the 2024 season he dealt with a hamstring injury that caused him to miss a portion of the Georgia game and then the following game against Texas. He then had a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the majority of the spring. On top of that, he also had a hernia during the off-season.
This is a lot to deal with for a quarterback about to begin his sophomore season. A quarterback who has only attempted 192 passes, only completed 59.9% of his attempts and a quarterback who has a touchdown/interception ratio of 12/9. Lagway needed reps during the spring to work on certain part of his game and didn’t get those. And now there is already doubt about how much time he will miss during preseason camp.
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This is bad news for Lagway, the team, the fans and Coach Napier. Lagway’s shoulders were going to be heavy this season from the amount of pressure he would be facing. And that was when he was considered healthy. Now with these early injury concerns, the pressure will refocus on Coach Napier, who will not be shown any mercy if Lagway misses time. With or without Lagway, Coach Napier will have to find a way to navigate a brutal schedule that includes LSU, Miami, Texas, Texas A&M, Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee. This wasn’t going to be easy with a 100% healthy Lagway, but suddenly just got even more difficult.
And if Coach Napier isn’t able to navigate the next few months successfully, the Gators will very likely be looking for a new head coach sooner than later. The off-season is usually about optimism, but that has already faded in Gainesville.
