This is DJ Lagway's lost season.
The injuries that kept him out of the spring. The surgery he probably should've gotten. The lack of chemistry with his receivers and the general struggles he's had in this offense without a healthy offseason. If the sophomore quarterback could do it all over again, he'd probably redshirt. Instead, he was benched on one of the worst nights of Gator football during this decade.
Rolling DJ Lagway back out there in the second half serves zero purpose.
— Neil W. Blackmon (@nwblackmon) November 9, 2025
Need to let Jones play.
Going to be an open competition at QB in the spring at Florida.
Billy Gonzales decides to pull the plug
Gonzales deserves better than this. He's a good man, and he's being asked to salvage something that feels like it's so far gone. After Lagway threw for 83 and three interceptions, Gonzales mercifully showed him the bench. It wasn't working. It hasn't worked for most of the season.
"I think we had a rough first half, and I thought it might be good for him just to gather and look at it from a coach's point and a coach's point from the sideline," Gonzales said. " Everybody needs to play a little bit better, not just him, and I'll take the blame for everything. I think if you take a look at what we do and what we need to be, and it's unacceptable. I'm going to put me up in front and say that's on me."
Gonzales doesn't have to take the blame for this. It's not his fault that Billy Napier never bothered to give Lagway the resources and coaching necessary to meet his potential. Truthfully, Napier should be the one apologizing tonight, and he should not stop apologizing. Everything we saw tonight, and we've seen this year, is on his watch.
Should DJ Lagway come back next year?
Florida football will be under new management in a few weeks and Lagway's future with the program is going to be one of the major questions that will have to be answered. The former 5-star quarterback has had some good moments in Gainesville, but he's also been hampered by a lot of mistakes, some of those self-inflicted, but not all of it is his fault.
Surely he's looking at successful transfer quarterbacks like Fernando Mendoza at Indiana (by way of Cal) or Miller Moss at Louisville (formerly at USC) or Chandler Morris at Virginia (played at North Texas) and wondering if a change of scenery is what he needs to play his best football.
When Lagway came to Gainesville two years ago, it was believed that he was going to save Billy Napier's job, but now Napier is gone and no one seems to be interested in saving Lagway. Now it might be time to let another program try.