Kirk Herbstreit Singles Out One SEC Team as His 'Surprise' Pick

The 2025 college football season is underway, with Week 0 games already in the books. For SEC teams, though, the real action kicks off this weekend with the start of Week 1.

On Tuesday, ESPN "College GameDay" analyst Kirk Herbstreit joined "The Pat McAfee Show" to preview the conference. He reaffirmed his pick of the Texas Longhorns to win the SEC but also revealed his surprise team: the Florida Gators.

"Surprise team is Florida," Herbstriet said. "I think DJ Lagway, if he's healthy, I was so impressed with him last year. We’ve talked about that, how their coach was fired. They started off slow and then, you know, I think they won four of their last five or five of their last six. And the only loss that he had was when he got injured as a starter against Georgia. So I'm going to go with Florida."

https://www.youtube.com/live/H1qkQES7Yq4?si=6Dolo9TDSibV94kr

Two Words: DJ Lagway

The Gators are entering Year 4 of the Billy Napier era with far higher expectations than in recent seasons, and a big reason why is sophomore quarterback DJ Lagway, as Herbstreit pointed out. Lagway, a former five-star recruit and the No. 1 quarterback in the 2024 high school class, took over as Florida’s full-time starter in the second half of last season after Graham Mertz went down with a torn ACL.

Florida opened the year 4–5 but closed strong, ripping off four straight wins to finish the season. In games Lagway both started and finished, he went a perfect 6–0.