Florida Football Recruiting: DJ Lagway is a reminder games matter too

We chronicled over the summer when a number of Florida football prospects got dropped in recruiting rankings that it seemed silly to have such wild swings based on summer camps. After all, the people who do the rankings for a living felt one way about a player based on their film when actual games were being played but then felt another way during scenarios where no pads were worn.

It turns out in a story as old as time that once the real games start being played again, those highly thought of prior to the non-pad circuit once again rise to the top.

This is why it is no surprise to see DJ Lagway once again rise up in the recruiting rankings.

Florida Football: Cream rises to the top

We are just going to assume that if you clicked on the link to read this story, you know who DJ Lagway is.

Lagway dropped in the recruiting rankings over the high school offseason after a “subpar” showing at the Elite 11 Camp, which is a showcase for some of the top high school QBs in the country.

Then everyone at that camp had to put the pads back on and face actual defensive linemen in their faces, and it is amazing how everyone reverts back to the mean.

Lagway, thus far through seven games at Willis High, has a stat line of 75% completion rate, 2,292 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, and just four interceptions.

His senior season has been so dominant that when 247 Sports did their mid-season rankings update yesterday, they bumped him up to the 2nd ranked QB in the country and deemed him a five-star prospect now.

The only QB in the country ranked ahead of him right now is Dylan Raiola, who is committed to Georgia. If we want to dive into semantics and really nitpick things, we’ll point out that while Raiola is having a nice season for Buford High in Georgia, it doesn’t come close to what Lagway is doing right now.

Lagway is not the only future Florida football member to see a rankings bump because of their play on the field as opposed to their play with no pads on.

Commits Xavier Filsaime, Amaris Williams, Nasir Johnson, Fletcher Westphal, and Amir Jackson also saw bumps to their ranking.

So inevitably, when we are arguing about the class of 2025 seeing wild swings in their rankings in about eight months, take a deep breath and remember that the film don’t lie.