![Florida quarterback DJ Lagway (2) leaves the field after beating Florida State 40-21 during an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 29, Florida beat Florida State 40-21.2025. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_222,w_2775,h_1560/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/213/01ke1z3qhkg9berhvhja.jpg "Florida quarterback DJ Lagway (2) leaves the field after beating Florida State 40-21 during an NCAA football game at Steve Spurrier Field at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, November 29, Florida beat Florida State 40-21.2025. [Alan Youngblood/Gainesville Sun]")
The transfer portal is open, and Florida QB DJ Lagway is finding a new home for the 2026 season. The former five-star prospect opted not to stick around for the Jon Sumrall Era and is looking for a fresh start.
Based upon the teams that have been reported as early contenders to try and land Lagway for next season, the sky-high stock Lagway had even after his freshman year has been replaced with tempered expectations after a disastrous sophomore season.
DJ Lagway is looking at his options for 2026
Pete Nakos of On3 filed a report that hinted Lagway plans to be patient before rushing to make a decision:
"You've heard LSU, you've heard Baylor, you've heard some Miami, I think all those options are real. But at the same time, from the conversations I've had, I know that DJ Lagway is going to see where some of these top guys go before he makes a decision."
Miami and LSU would certainly be high-profile spots that would make sense for a former five-star, but they also run in contrast to the school listed by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports:
Baylor, Louisville, Virginia, and Missouri.
Among the early teams expected to be in the mix with Florida QB transfer DJ Lagway, per sources: Baylor, Louisville, Missouri and Virginia.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 2, 2026
Lagway ranks as the third-best QB and 10th-best overall player in the transfer portal. pic.twitter.com/TLXgzFveLJ
Baylor keeps getting brought up because Lagway is from Texas, and his father, Derek Lagway, played for the Bears. Louisville, Virginia, and Missouri were all respectable programs in 2025, but they are not the type of programs that land five-star QBs straight out of high school.
Combine both reports together, and it doesn’t sound like the college football world is bending over backwards to try and land Lagway. Even if LSU is a real contender, there would be a stronger early push getting reported than the "kicking the tires" momentum that is out there right now.
After missing virtually the entire offseason due to a shoulder and ankle injury, Lagway was a shell of himself in 2025. His arm strength was gone, and his footwork looked like something from a U12 7-on-7 tournament. Combined with his struggles to read the field, there is a reason why elite programs aren’t tripping over themselves to get Lagway.
Wherever he lands, what Lagway will have to prove is that his 2025 regression was a byproduct of the injuries in combination with running Billy Napier’s Ask Madden offense. We are not ready to close the book on Lagway and still think he can become a top-tier QB in college football, but his current list of suitors indicates that there are a number of coaches who have closed that book.