Florida head coach Billy Napier wouldn’t officially commit to a starting quarterback, but one can assume Graham Mertz will remain Florida’s starter when he returns from concussion protocol.
“I think that our intentions are the same,” Napier said on Lagway’s chances of playing more. “We intend to play him every week. I think we intended to do that last week as well. I think we had 20 plays or something at halftime last week. So we struggled to get any rhythm going.”
Moving forward, Florida is going to use both Mertz and Lagway at quarterback.
“It’s a blessing to have two really good quarterbacks, and certainly one with a ton of experience and one without, but there is no doubt both these guys will make us harder to defend. We intend to use both of them,” Napier said on Monday.
Napier is feeling more confident in Lagway’s ability after a week of prep with the first team and a stellar performance vs Samford on Saturday.
“I think our intention the entire time has been to play DJ in every game. He gets a little bit more experienced each week, and certainly for him to have the opportunity to be the starter, prepare with the ones and then go play, and the way he did that, the poise, composure, it shows that he’s ready to do what we intended to with him going forward,” Napier said.
It doesn’t take a trained football eye to realize that Lagway can make plays as true freshman that the majority of college football quarterbacks will never be able to make. Napier believes Mertz’s experience and leadership along with Lagway’s talent will be able to make this team better.
“I think that there has been a lot of these dynamics over the years in terms of having a veteran player who is accomplished, had a good career, coming back in a leadership role. Then you have this young talent. We all knew he was very talented from the beginning of his recruitment,” Napier said.
“So, look, we’re going to do what’s in the best interest of the team. I think both these players can make our team better. I think that’s what we intended to do. The great thing is there is a great relationship there, confidence, humility from both guys, and a healthy respect from the team and staff for both players.”
A two QB situation is one that Napier is familiar with. Back in 2018 with Louisiana, Napier had a talented true freshman in Levi Lewis that found playing time behind veteran starter Andre Nunez. Lewis tossed for 585 yards and seven touchdowns as a freshman while Nunez threw for 2,272 yards and 20 touchdowns. While it’s unclear what the split will be for Mertz and Lagway, Napier claims this is a ‘good comparison.’
“That year Levi was a freshman and we played him, we made a commitment to play him a certain amount in every game. It proved beneficial because in year two, three, four he was the starter and we won a lot of football games, Napier said.” So he was talented enough and different than a starter in year one at UL, and I think that he had presence about him and the ability to affect the team, inspire confidence and helping the team very similarly to the way DJ goes about it. I think it’s a good comparison, and certainly I think we were committed to that. Not only because it was the best thing for that team, but also it was the best thing for the future of the team.”
Napier wouldn’t give any details on whether Lagway will receive snaps, series, or drives moving forward, which makes sense with a conference opponent due up. Napier went as far to say Lagway is one of the better players on Florida’s roster.
“I think that’s where the gamesmanship is,” Napier said on how they will utilize Lagway. “I don’t want to put the playbook on the streets here, but ultimately the guy is one of our better players. We’re going to give him an opportunity to impact the game and contribute to the team. That’s our intention.”