LEXINGTON, Ky. − Florida football interim coach Billy Gonzales explained why he benched starting quarterback DJ Lagway to start the second half after he threw three first-half interceptions against Kentucky.
“We had a rough first half, and I thought it might be good for him just to gather and look at it from a coach’s point from the sideline,” Gonzales said. “But yeah, we need to play better all around, not just him, everybody needs to play a little bit better, not just him, and I’ll take the blame for everything. I think if you take a look at what we do and what we need to be and it’s unacceptable and I’m going to put me up in front and say that’s on me.”
Asked if Lagway will start on Nov. 15 at Ole Miss, Gonzales responded: “We’ll take a look at the film and obviously we think he’s a very talented young man but we’ll take a look at everything and move forward once we get back home.”
Lagway was replaced by freshman quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. on the first offensive possession for the Florida Gators in the third quarter after Kentucky scored a touchdown to go up 31-7.
The 6-foot-2, 247-pound Lagway went 11 of 19 for 83 yards with 1 TD and 3 interceptions in the first half, which dropped his touchdown-to-interception ratio to 11-to-12 on the season.
Jones, a former Jacksonville-Mandarin High standout, is seeing his first action since playing the entire second half against Long Island, when he completed 12 of 18 passes for 131 yards and two TDs. He finished his first SEC action against Kentucky 9 of 17 for 60 yards and was sacked once.
“He came in and he did what he was supposed to do, having a chance to have a chance to try to move the ball, and we had penalties,” Gonzales said. “You start moving the ball and you get a penalty and you get behind third and long again, you’re not going to be successful that way, so again we’ve got to be better, and I keep saying it over and over, I want these players to continue to play hard. We’ve got to put them in better situations.”
A former 2023 Gatorade High School Player of the Year, Lagway has started all nine games for UF this season and 13 straight games dating back to the end of the 2024 season.
“I don’t think anybody ever plans or wants that to happen but I think he’s a mature young man and I think that he’s going to do what he can to help the team in whatever it looks like,” Florida center Jake Slaughter said. “I was super happy coming over, he was warming us up, warming up Tramell, he was the leader we all know him to be. So I expect nothing different going forward, whatever his role is.”
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 interim coach won’t commit to QB DJ Lagway vs. Ole Miss after benching him
Reporting by Kevin Brockway, Gainesville Sun / The Gainesville Sun
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