ATLANTA ― Florida football sophomore quarterback D.J. Lagway gave himself a clean bill of health heading into the 2025 season.
Lagway was held out of throwing in spring drills due to shoulder and core issues but has resumed throwing since May in Organized Team Activities with the Florida Gators. He’s been encouraged by his progress and expects to be ready at the start of fall camp at the end of the month.
“I don’t have a prosthetic arm,” Lagway joked at SEC Football Media Days on July 16. “Just letting you all know that. But know I’m feeling great, like training has been amazing, I’ve been working, I’m actually getting better.
“I’m not just getting back to throwing the ball, I’m 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, from the first game.”
Asked about being able to make all the throws during OTAs, Lagway responded: “Oh yes sir, I’m going to make more of them. Yes sir, for sure, but that’s not my biggest thing right now. My biggest thing is making the boring throws more consistently and that’s where I want to improve my game.”
How Florida football QB DJ Lagway wants to improve from his freshman season
The 6-foot-3, 241-pound Lagway lived up to his billing as the top-rated football recruit in the 2024 class, going 6-1 as a starter for UF while passing for 1,915 yards with 12 TDs and nine interceptions. Lagway, UF’s first Gatorade High School Football Player of the Year out of high school since Emmitt Smith, is expecting even more from himself as a sophomore.
“Last year, I was just thankful to be out there,” Lagway said, “I was just thankful to be out there. I was hurting, playing through a lot of injury and adversity early on, even before the Miami game.
“I’m just excited to continue to get better. That’s all I’m focused on, improving. Because last year what I did, it was OK by my standards, but I feel like I have a lot more to prove.”
Florida football coach Billy Napier confirmed Lagway played through most of the season banged up. Lagway suffered a hamstring injury against Georgia that sidelined him the following game against Texas. But Lagway returned to lead UF on a four-game win streak to close the 2024 season.
During his appearance at SEC Media Days, Lagway denied undergoing any surgical procedures during the offseason.
“We throw the quarterback three times a week,” Napier said. “He’s continued to do that. He actually got a good session in this morning before he came here. So, yeah, we feel confident in terms of him being ready to go.”
One area Lagway wants to improve is reading coverages to cut down on the number of interceptions he threw last season. He said not throwing during spring camp helped him absorb more film and see the game from the coach’s perspective.
“I saw a lot of coverages that I’ve never seen before coming from high school to college, big-time SEC football,” Lagway said. “Now having recognition of those coverages and I know defensive coordinators are going to come out to the things that hindered me, but seeing those things and learning the weaknesses of those coverages has been great.”
Kevin Brockway is The Gainesville Sun’s Florida beat writer. Contact him at kbrockway@gannett.com. Follow him on X @KevinBrockwayG1. Read his coverage of the Gators’ national championship basketball season in “CHOMP-IONS!” — a hardcover coffee-table collector’s book from The Sun. Details at Florida.ChampsBook.com
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida football QB DJ Lagway declares himself healthy at SEC Media Days: ‘I’m feeling great’
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
