DJ Lagway injury update: Florida star QB (calf) starts fall practice days after Gators begin camp

Football

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Image Credit: Maddie Washburn, UAA

Sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway practiced with the Florida Gators on Saturday, marking the first time since fall camp opened on July 30 that the team’s star signal caller was able to get on the field. Nursing a strained calf that he suffered more than a week ago while running with the team, Lagway had previously been seen without a boot Friday.

He opened fall practice Wednesday among a handful of players listed as “day-to-day” by head coach Billy Napier. This after Lagway did not throw the football during spring practice while dealing with a shoulder injury that will eventually require surgery. He simultaneously decided to undergo surgery for a sports hernia that had been bothering him since high school. Instead of throwing, he simulated snaps, repping footwork and hand-offs.

While Lagway is only taking practice reps, early impressions are that he has not lost a step.

Lagway began throwing the football at the conclusion of spring practice through the start of the summer during Florida’s organized team activities. He declared himself 100% healthy just over 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 has undoubtedly been an issue, perhaps there’s some a silver lining in Florida being more capable behind him when the season begins.