After playing three different quarterbacks more than 125 snaps last season, the Gators will look for more stability in 2025 with sophomore DJ Lagway leading the charge. Florida has four scholarship quarterbacks entering the 2024 and an experienced preferred walk on.
Gator Country breaks down Florida’s quarterback room ahead of spring camp.
So. DJ Lagway
Former five-star quarterback DJ Lagway stepped foot in Gainesville and made an immediate impact, leading Florida to a four-game winning streak to end the 2024 season. Florida’s 8-5 record is the program’s best since 2020. The Gators posted a perfect 6-0 record when Lagway started and finished games.
Lagway began his freshman campaign in a rotation with returning starter Graham Mertz in an effort to ease him into the collegiate level. Mertz suffered a torn ACL on October 12t vs Tennessee, which made Lagway the Gators full time starter down the stretch.
The 6’3, 239-pound quarterback completed 115 of 192 passes (59.9%) for 1,915 yards and 12 touchdowns while tossing nine interceptions. It’s important to note that Lagway suffered a left hamstring injury vs Georgia that limited his mobility throughout the rest of the season. Still, Lagway was named a Freshman All-American from numerous outlets while earning CFN Freshman Quarterback of the Year in 2024.
Lagway was one of the best deep passers in the country as a true freshman, completing 19 of 36 passes (52.8%) over 20+ air yards for 733 yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. His 95.6 passing grade on deep passes was the highest in the country last season, according to Pro Football Focus.
One of Lagway’s more unique traits is his want and willingness to throw the deep ball and make explosive plays. Lagway’s 11.72 average depth of target and explosive play percentage of 18.23% ranked 1st in the SEC last season, according to SEC Stat Cat.
While the deep ball isn’t an issue for the rising sophomore, one area Lagway will look to improve upon is the underneath routes. On passes between 10-19 yards, Lagway completed just 46.4% of his passes and held a 3 to 7 touchdown to interception ratio. Being able to quickly progress through the reads will help Lagway in this area as a lot of his success came on a one read and go play style. Most freshman are not thrown into the spotlight like Lagway was in 2024, so I don’t believe there should be much concern moving forward.
Lagway enters the 2025 season holding the T-5th best odds to win the Heisman Trophy, according to BetOnline.
R-Sr. Harrison Bailey
The Gators wanted to add a veteran quarterback to backup DJ Lagway in 2025. While it wasn’t an easy task, Florida landed Louisville transfer Harrison Bailey. Bailey was a highly touted high school prospect out of Marietta, Georgia, who has played for Tennessee, UNLV, and Louisville across five seasons in college football. Bailey was able to get a 6th year of eligibility due to his 2020 Covid season.
Bailey has completed 108 of 171 passes (63.1%) for 1,190 yards and 10 touchdowns while throwing three interceptions in his career. The 6’5, 230-pound quarterback hasn’t logged very many starts, but is coming off a start in the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl, where he was named MVP for throwing three touchdown passes and zero interceptions.
The most important factor in this addition is that Bailey has embraced the backup quarterback role at UF. While the quarterback room is still thin, Bailey should provide UF with some depth that can keep them in games.
R-So. Aidan Warner
Preferred walk-on quarterback Aidan Warner is back for his second season in Gainesville after transferring from Yale after last season. Despite not being on scholarship, Warner was able to beat out Clay Millen for the third string quarterback role. While it didn’t seem like a big deal in the preseason, it became very real, very quickly for Warner. The Orlando, Florida native took his first significant collegiate snaps vs Georgia after injuries to both Mertz and Lagway. He logged his first career start vs Texas a week later.
Warner completed 21-50 passes (42%) for 228 yards and three interceptions. The 6’3, 206-pound quarterback did log a rushing touchdown in garbage time vs Samford. Warner gave it his all on the football field for the Gators, but just didn’t have the arm strength of skillset to compete on the field vs the best defenses.
Warner could remain QB3 for UF in 2025.
R-Sr. Clay Millen
Colorado State transfer Clay Millen joined UF in the spring semester and did not make an appearance in 2024. It came as a shock as most thought Millen would be quarterback three ahead of Warner given the different scholarship status. Millen also had experience, completing 169-of-234 passes for 1,910 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2023. Millen set the single-season CSU completion percentage record with 72.2 (169-234). The completion percentage also set the NCAA record for an FBS freshman and was the second-best mark in Mountain West history. If Millen didn’t crack the top three last season, it would be surprising to see him on the field in 2025.
Fr. Tramell Jones
The Gators added Tramell Jones in the 2025 class as they look to develop a younger guy under Lagway. Jones missed all but two games of senior season due to an undisclosed lower-leg injury. He posted a 2-0 record at Mandarin, completing 19 of 21 passes (90.5%) for 439 yards with 5 TD and 0 INT. Jones is an early enrollee and should be healthy for the start of spring camp.
In 2023, Jones completed 183 of 302 passes (60.6%) for 3,195 yards with 33 TD and 7 INT. He also led Mandarin to an 11-4 record and the Sunshine State’s 4M championship game. Jones’ development throughout spring will be crucial for Florida’s depth in 2025.
PROJECTED DEPTH CHART
QB1: DJ Lagway
QB2: Harrison Bailey
QB3: Aidan Warner OR Tramell Jones