DJ Lagway injury: Florida star quarterback missing more practice time as fall camp begins for Gators

Football

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Image Credit: Lorenzo Vasquez, UAA

After being unable to throw the football and therefore only participating in part during spring practice this offseason, Florida Gators sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway will again be limited at the start of fall training camp with an unrelated injury. Head coach Billy Napier confirmed Tuesday that Lagway is among a handful of players who will be listed “day-to-day” when practice begins Wednesday — one month from the start of the 2025 season.

Lagway reportedly suffered a lower-leg injury last week; he has been seen walking around campus in a boot. This spring, Lagway did throw the football in practice while nursing not only an injured shoulder — deciding to forgo surgery — but a hernia-like issue in his core that had been bothering him since high school. Instead, he simulated snaps, repping footwork and hand-offs.

“The good thing is that we’re about a week removed [from the injury],” Napier said Tuesday. “In general, he’s made a lot of quick progress, but it will be something that we’re monitoring. And hopefully, as we go, his ability to participate in practice will be a little bit more with each opportunity we get going forward.”

Lagway began throwing the football at the tail end of spring practice through the start of the summer during Florida’s organized team activities. He declared himself 100% healthy just two weeks ago at the 2025 SEC Media Days.

“I’m feeling great,” he said on July 16. “Training has been amazing. I’ve been working. I’m actually getting better at doing that; [I’m] just trying to get back to throwing the ball. I’ve been working on mechanics. That’s going to help my accuracy this year, help my decision-making. It’s been great. I’m just excited to get out there with the guys.”

As well as Lagway played on the field as a freshman in 2024, his injuries and natural inconsistencies as a first-year player made his participation in a complete offseason program paramount to ensuring his talent could shine through for the Gators in Year 2. Given Lagway has barely been able to get on the practice field since the season ended, he will enter the 2025 campaign with far fewer repetitions under his belt than would be ideal for a player with a ceiling so high.

“Injuries are one of the tougher things about the profession, certainly for him being a Year 2 player and a really motivated and hungry guy,” Napier said of the obstacles Lagway is attempting to overcome. “He’s done a good job staying connected. He still has a voice as a leader. He’s still walking the halls. He’s still able to be a factor in that regard.

“But he’s still a very young player, needs these reps for development. When he gets back, he’ll be just fine. He’s had a great attitude towards it, and we have to help him manage expectations towards it as well.”

Lagway completed nearly 60% of his passes for 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in his freshman season. He went undefeated in games he started and finished after Graham Mertz went down and won four straight contests to conclude the season with ranked wins over LSU and Ole Miss. Despite his success in the win column and down-field passing game, Lagway oftentimes looked like the part he played: an inexperienced, banged-up quarterback who needed to develop further in the offseason to take Florida to the next level.

Redshirt sophomore Aidan Warner, graduate transfer Harrison Bailey and freshman Tramell Jones Jr. split reps in Lagway’s stead this offseason. Napier said all three players have taken advantage of those opportunities with Warner making the most progress of the trio.

“It’s a little bit of a blessing here that we were able to give those guys a ton of reps and see how they respond to that,” he said.

The Gators have struggled mightily with quarterback depth over the last few seasons — in some circumstances due to no fault of their own — so while Lagway’s lack of availability is undoubtedly an issue, perhaps there’s some silver lining that Florida will be more capable behind him when the season begins.