Florida Gators QB DJ Lagway Carrying Motivation vs. Texas Longhorns

The Texas Longhorns completed their round at the SEC Media Days on Tuesday, but Texas remained a huge topic of conversation among the questions being asked during Wednesday's rounds in Atlanta.

As the new Florida starting quarterback, DJ Lagway was asked about how he felt about missing last season's game against Texas in Austin due to injury, and his feelings about this year's game in Gainesville.

"Man, that hurt me a lot, looking back, that's the game I wanted to play in the most, looking before the season," Lagway said. "But next year I'm excited for it, it's going to be an amazing time in The Swamp, fans are going to bring it, I'm excited, it's going to be great."

What Florida Looks Like with DJ Lagway at QB

Even as a touted five-star recruit, DJ Lagway did not start for the Gators in Week 1 against the Miami Hurricanes last season, as the Gators started Graham Mertz, but he did see action in the fourth quarter of their blowout loss to Miami. It was a different story in game two as Lagway received his first career start against Samford, and he performed in a big way, throwing for 456 yards and three touchdowns on 18 of 25 passing.

As the season carried along, Lagway had to split the starting quarterback job with Mertz until he received his first two consecutive starts against Tennessee and Georgia. In the Georgia game, Lagway suffered an injury that kept him out of the game against the Longhorns, but after that, the Gators went on a four-game winning streak to end the season with huge victories over LSU and Ole Miss.

Texas against Florida last season was not pretty for the Gators, as they were without both Lagway and Mertz for the game. Florida's third-string quarterback struggled, completing 12 of his 16 pass attempts for just 132 yards while throwing two interceptions in a blowout as Texas beat Florida 49-17.

However, with Lagway, the final score might have been a lot closer than it was, as against other big SEC powers like Tennessee and Georgia, Florida was in close games in which Lagway was starting, losing to Tennessee in overtime and losing to Georgia by two scores.

Now, as undoubtedly the starting quarterback for the Gators, as Mertz went off to the NFL, Lagway should get the opportunity to play against the Longhorns this season, barring any injury, when Texas travels to "The Swamp" on Oct. 4 to open up conference play.