UCLA Football Sends Elite Dual-Threat Quarterback DJ Lagway Scholarship Offer

The Bruins are the latest Power Five program to lock in their pursuit of the Texas native, joining Alabama, Baylor, Oklahoma and others.

(Photo Courtesy of DJ Ladway/Twitter)

The Bruins aren't done planning for their future at quarterback just yet.

UCLA football sent a scholarship offer to class of 2024 dual-threat quarterback DJ Lagway on Thursday afternoon, the recruit announced on Twitter. The Willis High School (TX) signal-caller is coming off a breakout sophomore season that vaulted him up recruiting boards and led many to rank him among the best at his position in the upcoming cycle.

Lagway has offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Buffalo, UConn, Duke, Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, LSU, Michigan State, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Penn State, SMU, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and West Virginia.

After a great conversation with @itsGundy blessed an honored to receive an offer from UCLA 🐻💛💙@CoachTMiller18 @CoachJGlenn @CoachChadJ @WillisWildkats1 @TheQBTech @RoSimonJr @Fast7v7 @OllinASM @KeithBelton7 pic.twitter.com/RvqG8W5VIz

— LAG ✞ (@DerekLagway) May 5, 2022

Lagway's father played running back at Baylor from 1997-2001, and he has already taken unofficial visits to Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Florida, LSU and Arkansas – several of which he visited to twice or attended a junior day.

In 12 games for Willis this past fall, Lagway racked up 1,579 yards and 17 touchdowns through the air with just two interceptions. On the ground, Lagway went for another 715 yards and six touchdowns. Lagway rode that highly-productive season into an appearance at Under Armour's Elite Underclassmen Camp in April and an invite to the Under Armour All-American Game in two years' time.

Lagway started his high school career at safety while getting limited time at quarterback, adding 18 tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss his freshman year. Lagway also plays basketball and baseball.

Coming in at 6-foot-2 and over 200 pounds, Lagway already boasts a mature frame several years removed from when he's set to arrive on a college campus.

247Sports and Rivals have Lagway pegged as a four-star prospect, while he has five stars in the 247Sports Composite. In those industry-standard aggregate rankings, Lagway is the No. 1 player in Texas, No. 4 quarterback in the class and No. 18 player in the nation. Rivals has him as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback and No. 7 recruit in his entire class.

Lagway wouldn't be the first Bruin quarterback to come from Texas in the Chip Kelly era, with Chase Griffin arriving in January 2019 and serving as the primary backup throughout the 2020 campaign.

UCLA has Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback for one more year, after which Ethan Garbers and Justyn Martin are expected to compete to become his successor. Martin – assuming he redshirts 2022 – will be eligible through 2026, meaning he could be the long-term solution at the position.

However, the Bruins' lone 2020 and 2021 quarterback commits – Parker McQuarrie and Kajiya Hollawayne – both entered the transfer portal earlier this offseason, leaving the program thin on depth and options moving forward. Kelly and quarterbacks coach Ryan Gunderson have offered three five-star class of 2023 quarterbacks, but Nicholaus Iamaleava already committed to Tennessee and Dante Moore and Jaden Rashada could likely go elsewhere.

Looking ahead to 2024, UCLA has made nine total offers and four have gone to quarterbacks. Between Lagway, Julian Sayin, Elijah Brown and Demond Williams Jr., the Bruins are pursuing several top-10 quarterbacks in next year's cycle.

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