DJ Lagway injury update: Florida QB’s hamstring ‘less significant’ than initially feared, Texas game in play

Football

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Image Credit: Catherine McCarthy, UAA

Florida Gators freshman quarterback DJ Lagway has yet to be ruled out for this Saturday’s game against the No. 5 Texas Longhorns after suffering a hamstring injury that appeared to be so serious that he was carted off the field against the No. 2 Georgia Bulldogs over the weekend. Lagway, who emerged from the locker room on crutches, has an outside chance of suiting up against Florida’s fifth top-10 opponent of the season.

“We do think that the injury is less significant,” said Napier while sharing a diagnosis provided to the team Sunday evening following an MRI. “We do think that there is a pathway for recovery and return. … Lot of good [news] on that front, so less significant than we anticipated. He’s been doing well so far [Monday] morning.”

While Napier is keeping the door open to Lagway playing this weekend, Florida’s coach has been playing cat-and-mouse with his team’s injury report over the last month. For example: Senior running back Montrell Johnson Jr., who appeared to have suffered a significant lower-body injury against Tennessee, was listed as questionable the following week against Kentucky. Johnson did not play in that game, nor did he play against Georgia last Saturday despite having two additional weeks to recover.

More likely is that redshirt freshman Aidan Warner, a transfer from Yale who walked onto the program this spring but did not begin practicing until the fall, will start against the Longhorns. Warner completed just 7 of 22 passes for 66 yards with an interception against the Dawgs, but this week, he will get the opportunity to work with the first-team offense after only spending two weeks practicing with the second team.

Lagway, who exploded onto the scene in his first season and moved into a starting role two weeks ago, appeared to severely injure his left hamstring on a run late in the second quarter on Saturday. He immediately grabbed his leg and needed to be lifted off the ground before getting carted off the field and into the tunnel.

At halftime of the game, Napier referred to the injury as “pretty significant.”

The former five-star prospect took over Florida’s offense after redshirt senior Graham Mertz, the incumbent starter, tore his ACL at Tennessee on Oct 13. Before departing, Lagway completed 2 of 6 passes, one of which was a 43-yard touchdown to redshirt freshman wide receiver Aidan Mizell. He also had 18 yards rushing.