New DJ Lagway update may have big impact on Florida's 2025 season

Florida Gators quarterback DJ Lagway has all "the goods" to be a superstar. That's not a question. What has been a question this offseason has been Lagway's health. 

Lagway has been limited with a shoulder injury (this past spring) and a calf injury (suffered in fall camp) and has been a question mark heading into Florida's Week 1 game against Long Island. 

If Lagway wasn't 100 percent, or close to it, this may have been a good game to sit him out to give him more time to heal, but the latest update coming out of Gainesville suggests the Gators have a ton of reason to be optimistic.

On Monday, head coach Billy Napier revealed that Lagway will start on Saturday. The sophomore quarterback has been a full participant in recent practices, and that's huge for Florida.

Per Napier, the Willis, Texas, product has also learned a lot from the challenges of being injured.

"A lot of times things happen to you that you can't control, so there's opportunities to get better as a result of what he's going through," Napier said on Monday, according to Andrea Adelson of ESPN. "He's learned a lot about himself. This won't be the first time he's gone through something like this. You play the game, you're going to get injured, so how you mana ge that not only physically but mentally ... for him that's been a bit of a challenge, but I think it's been healthy for him."

Again, this game may have been a good opportunity for Florida to keep Lagway back if he wasn't fully ready to play, so the fact that he's getting the start in this one is a huge indication that his injury issues in 2025 may be behind him now.