Quarterback signee DJ Lagway will move into his dorm in Gainesville on January 7th as he starts his preparation as a quarterback for the Florida Gators.
Lagway arrives in Gainesville with the Gators’ program down but this isn’t the first time he has been on a team that needed a rebuild.
When Lagway arrived at Willis High School his teams went 2-8, 5-7, 5-5, before going 12-1 in his senior year so the quarterback believes that Napier’s plan and his history can get Florida back on top.
“I see the culture Coach Napier is trying to build,” Lagway said. “I feel like I’ve been in this type of situation before. At my high school for instance, we weren’t a winning program at all, I was the first D1 guy at my school. I feel like I’m a program changer to be honest. I’m just here to learn, grow, and learn how to be a college athlete.”
Lagway has a close relationship with head coach Billy Napier and he likes his offense and how he adjusts his offense to every quarterback.
“I see the plan, I see the vision,” he said on playing in Napier’s offense. “He had different quarterbacks these last two years. I like what he did with Anthony Richardson and I like what he’s doing with Graham Mertz. I’m just excited to see how I fit into the offense and how I can develop in it.”
When Lagway arrives in Gainesville in two weeks, he’s going with one goal in mind and that’s to be the starting quarterback in 2024.
“I’m going there to compete, I ain’t just going to give it to nobody,” Lagway said on wanting to start next year. “I respect Graham, he’s a great quarterback, I can’t wait to learn from him.”
Napier and the coaching staff have talked with Lagway about their plans for him for next season and how much of the playbook they plan to give him.
“They said I would have a lot to do with it, they’re going to give me the whole system, they aren’t going to baby-feed it to me. They’re going to give it all to me to make sure I can run the offense” Lagway said on plans for playing time next year. “They will try to get me in every game or so. I just want to come in and work. I want to get that starting position, but If I don’t I just want to learn from Graham and just grow, that’s the biggest thing. I want to be the best college quarterback I can be.”
All players have an adjustment period once they get to college and have things to improve on and Lagway hopes this week at the Under Armour game will prepare him for the transition to college.
“I would say that I will just see when I get there,” he said on what he needs to do to start. “ I really don’t know what to expect, this is my time. I’m just really excited just to see the speed of the game and feel it. That’s why the UA game is so good of a test to see what’s like to play against the top players in the country. It’s going to be a good thing here and I’m just excited to see the competition level and get to know the playbook.”
Lagway heads to Gainesville as one of the most talked about prospects to sign with the Gators in years but the quarterback doesn’t feel that pressure.
“No I don’t feel any pressure, I feel like God has blessed me with all this talent and I feel like he doesn’t give something he can’t show,” Lagway said on feeling pressure. “He’s giving me this for a reason, he doesn’t make mistakes so there’s no pressure at all. Just here to have fun and play ball.”
The last thing Lagway wants fans to know about him is that he believes in Napier and he believes he can right the ship in Gainesville.
“I feel like I’m very confident that Coach Napier knows what I have going being a program changer,” he said. “I feel like I did it at the high school level and there’s a good possibility I can do it at the college level.”