Elite 2024 QB Recruit D.J. Lagway Includes Baylor Bears in His Top 10
Willis High School quarterback D.J. Lagway revealed his top 10 schools Sunday, a list that started out with just about every college football program vying for his signature.
The list is littered with blue blood programs like the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Oklahoma Sooners, and the USC Trojans. Then, there's the Baylor Bears. They are on the list, hanging with the most historic programs in college football.
How did they get there?
Blessed but never satisfied, the grind continues💯 @Hayesfawcett3 @CoachTMiller18 pic.twitter.com/KJNVLlL61r
— LAG ✞ (@DerekLagway) September 18, 2022
Well, there are family ties to the Bears program. Lagway's father, Derek, played running back for the Bears from 1997-2001, playing under coaches Dave Roberts and Kevin Steele.
The patrilineal connection with Baylor is certainly a factor for Lagway's interest in the program, but the team and the atmosphere is miles better than it was when the elder Lagway was running the rock in green and gold.
When Derek Lagway was playing at Baylor, they went 8-36 in four years. By comparison, D.J. Lagway is being recruited to a program coming off its winningest season ever in 2021.
The Bears have already landed the much-coveted 2023 quarterback recruit Austin Novosad and now find themselves in the running for one of the nation's most sought-after players in the 2024 class. Lagway is drawing comparisons to Vince Young and Lamar Jackson, as he threw for over 1,500 yards and rushed for over 700 more as a sophomore in 2021.
It is worth noting how loyalty and care from a coaching staff can factor into this decision for Lagway. The Bears were the first school to offer Lagway all the way back on June 8, 2021. This is also the staff, spear-headed by quarterbacks coach Shawn Bell, who were able to nab Novosad even after the Dripping Springs (TX) quarterback took official visits to Texas A&M, Notre Dame and Ohio State.
Lagway did visit Baylor during the Bears' spring game in April, even dropping a 34-minute YouTube video to document the experience, where he got to hold Robert Griffin III's Heisman Trophy, the Big 12 Championship trophy and the Sugar Bowl trophy.
5⭐️ DJ Lagway 2024 QB out of Willis, Texas who is take a visit to Baylor where his father played.
— LAG ✞ (@DerekLagway) April 29, 2022
⬇️👇🏽⬇️👇🏽⬇️👇🏽⬇️👇🏽⬇️👇🏽⬇️https://t.co/SkiFeLyb7b pic.twitter.com/GIJQ8EC6br
The Baylor Bears might stick out in a list like Lagway's top 10, but if they are somehow able to pull off the coup of bringing in a generational talent, they'll fit right in on those lists before long.
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Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.