Gators DJ Lagway Ranked Top SEC QB by College Football Analyst

The SEC has a number of high-quality quarterbacks lining up under center this upcoming season. However, On3’s Andy Staples on Monday picked Florida’s DJ Lagway above the others as the best SEC quarterback going into the season. 

“If Florida has the Lagway who played against LSU and Ole Miss last year for an entire season, the Gators can beat anyone on their schedule,” Staples said. 

However, Staples also added that he must stay healthy, which was a key issue down the stretch last season and remained a talking point into the offseason.

“Lagway’s health is the biggest caveat here after an offseason spent resting nagging injuries,” wrote Staples. “Now Lagway is absolutely QB1, and if he takes a leap, it could be stratospheric. But – and this feels like a huge but – he has to stay healthy.”

The Willis, Texas, native had a solid debut season with the Gators. He passed for 1,915 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games last year. He also struggled with turnovers, throwing nine interceptions, but that is expected with a freshman in his first season in one of the toughest conferences. 

While he made his actual debut in the opener against Miami, Lagway’s real beginning came in Week Two against Samford. He started this game after Graham Mertz went down with a concussion against the Hurricanes in Week One.

In this game, he became just the seventh true freshman starter at quarterback in program history and ended with 456 yards and three touchdowns on 18-for-25 passing. Moreover, his 456 yards set a Florida true freshman record and put him ninth all-time in single-game passing yards in program history. 

After this, his best stretch of the season came over the final weeks. Despite being dealt a hamstring injury against the Georgia Bulldogs, Lagway was able to finish out the year. He helped lead the Gators to a four-game winning streak to end 2024 and a 6-1 record as a starter overall. That included ranked wins over LSU and Ole Miss and a bowl win over Tulane. 

The wins over LSU and Ole Miss were in succession as well, which was the first time since 2003 that the Gators accomplished back-to-back top-25 wins as an unranked team. 

He was 13-for-26 against the Tigers and threw for 226 yards and a touchdown. His performance this week earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Lagway also became the first Florida true freshman quarterback to defeat a ranked opponent at home. Then, he notched his highest passer rating (174.8) in SEC play against the Rebels, going 10-for-17 for 180 yards, two scores through the air and an interception. 

Lagway then capped off the year with one more broken record. He became the Gasparilla Bowl’s first 300-yard passer, completing 22 of his 35 passes for 305 yards.

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