Report: Florida QB DJ Lagway Dealing with Lingering Injury Issue from High School

The Florida Gators are a team that, heading into 2025, may have the biggest difference in preseason expectations compared to last season. Last year, fans were all but taking bets on when Billy Napier, the Gators' head coach, would be fired after an 11-14 record during his first two seasons as Florida's head coach.

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The noise grew even louder after Florida fell to Miami 41-17 at home to open the season and 33-20 to open SEC play against Texas A&M. The Gators walked into Starkville a struggling 1-2, but rattled off two good wins against Mississippi State and UCF. Florida's next trip was to Knoxville, Tennessee, against the Volunteers.

Florida fell in overtime of that game, and the bad news got even worse when starting quarterback Graham Mertz suffered a season-ending injury. Then, Florida officially introduced freshman quarterback DJ Lagway to the starting lineup.

After a win against the next-to-last team in the SEC in the Kentucky Wildcats, Gator fans could only hope that they didn't get blown out by Georgia the following game. Florida did more than that, despite Lagway injuring his hamstring in the game, as the Gators held a 13-6 lead at halftime and tied the game with 7:29 left in the contest. While Georgia went on the win 34-20, signs of life were beginning to peek through the curtains in Gainesville. Florida went on to fall to Texas without Lagway the following week.

Then, Florida rattled off two wins against No. 21 LSU, killing the Tigers' final hopes of an SEC title berth, and knocked No. 9 Ole Miss out of the College Football Playoff race. Florida capped its regular season with a 31-11 win over its bitter rival, Florida State. The Gators went on to dominate Tulane in the Gasparilla Bowl, ending the season an optimistic 8-5.

Heading into 2025, the pressure is back on Billy Napier to build on what many considered a surprising season last year. He'll do so with his sophomore quarterback, DJ Lagway, who reportedly dealt with a shoulder injury in spring ball.

SEC analyst Chris Doering, a former Gator himself, reported on an unseen injury that may have hindered Lagway last season, despite his strong introduction to the college football world.

"Holding him out during the spring was just precautionary," Doering said to Crain and Company, "A lot of people talk about the shoulder, the reports I heard that it was more of a hernia-type issue that dated back to his high school days, that they were aware of, trying to rest and not have too much strain on the shoulder by having him throw when his midsection wasn't right."

Lagway should be healthy now that he sat out most of the spring and summer, but continuity with his receivers and offensive line could be an issue when considering how long Lagway was out for.

"It's frustrating, though. You may have gotten him healthy, but you lost a lot of practice time, a lot of time with new receivers... Continuing to create more continuity with your offense as a whole, for any quarterback, is important, but a freshman quarterback that only played in about half the games last year, it definitely makes you a little nervous. Now, with that being said, I think people look at DJ Lagway and say, 'Look how well he played last year with a hamstring injury and everything else, imagine what he's going to be like when he's actually healthy.'

"Keeping him upright is of utmost importance. I'm anxious to see him more involved in the run game, too, something he certainly has the ability to affect a defense with. The dude is massive, he's like 250 pounds. You look at the offseason, it was focused on surrounding him with weapons."

Florida retained Eugene Wilson III and Aiden Mizell from last year's 8-5 team at wide receiver, with sophomore running back Jadan Baugh set to take the reins as the starting tailback for Florida. Florida also returns one of the top centers in the country with senior Jake Slaughter.

The Gators will open their season on August 30 at home against Long Island University.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.