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Matt Barrie Sounds Alarm on DJ Lagway's Long Term Health

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Grant Bricker | Last updated Aug 1, 2025 8:03 PM ET

The Florida Gators have not had the easiest offseason when it comes to the health of their starting quarterback, DJ Lagway.

The team started training camp on Tuesday, and Lagway was seen in a boot on Monday after suffering a calf injury. However, it was short-lived as Lagway was out of the boot by Thursday and is now expected to start this season.

While it appeared only to be a minor injury, ESPN's Matt Barrie was discouraged about Lagway's health for the future on a recent episode of "Always College Football."

Lagway played in 12 games with seven starts last season for the Gators.

"Yeah, you get concerned about it now," Barrie said. "I mean, that's the concern, right? If you get a player that's injury prone that now goes into the start of fall camp injured, you're thinking, 'Oh no, not again.'"

While Lagway got some valuable playing time as a true freshman, it was not without an injury scare. He suffered a hamstring injury against the Georgia Bulldogs that kept him out of the following game versus the Texas Longhorns.

The Gators also lost starting quarterback Graham Mertz for the year at that point, as he suffered a torn ACL in the 23-17 overtime loss to the Tennessee Volunteers.

One of Billy Napier's first quarterbacks at Florida since he took the job in 2022, Anthony Richardson, has also dealt with injury problems in the NFL. In two years with the Indianapolis Colts, Richardson has played in 15 games.

However, Pat McAfee weighed in on how different Richardson has looked in training camp on a recent episode of "The Pat McAfee Show."

Now that Napier has secured a winning season at Florida, the program is attempting to build for the future in recruiting. The Gators have gained the interest of four-star edge rusher Mekai Brown.

Lagway and Florida open the season with Long Island on August 30.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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