Florida Gators QB DJ Lagway Earns Another Honor for Freshman Campaign
Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway receives another high freshman honor. The FWAA has named him a Freshman All-American.
Lagway was also named to the ESPN Freshman All-American team as well as On3’s True Freshman All-American team.
In his freshman year, Lagway completed 59.9% of his passes for 1,915 passing yards and threw 12 touchdowns to nine interruptions.
He led the Gators to an 8-5 finish to the season including a win in the Gasparilla Bowl over Tulane. In that game, he earned the game’s MVP honor. It was the Gators first bowl win since 2019.
Lagway didn’t start the season as the starting quarterback, originally backing up Graham Mertz, the starter for the 2023 season as well.
He made his debut in the backup role in the 41-17 loss to Miami opening week and made his first career start in Week Two against Samford. Mertz suffered a concussion and had to sit out the week. Even when Mertz was back, Lagway continued to make appearances.
Then, Mertz tore his ACL in the 23-17 loss to Tennessee, and Lagway took over as the starter. He was the starter the rest of the way, when healthy. Aidan Warner started the 49-17 loss to Texas due to Lagway sustaining a hamstring injury in the loss to rival Georgia.
The Gators found themselves 4-5 after the loss to Texas with bowl hopes looking bleak. But picked up upset wins over No. 22 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss on back-to-back Saturdays to reach bowl eligibility. They then took down FSU during Rivalry Week to clinch their first winning season since 2020.
When starting the entire games, he was 5-0 in 2024. They lost the Georgia game but had he been healthy, there’s a case they could have won the tight matchup.
Lagway will enter next season with raised expectations, and potentially in the hunt for the coveted Heisman Trophy.