Technically speaking, next week is Homecoming for Florida when it takes on Mississippi State. But for DJ Lagway, this week's Texas A&M game serves as his own personal homecoming. As is well known, Lagway is from Willis, TX, about 75 minutes east of College Station.
But considering the backdrop of A&M's efforts to land Lagway out of high school, combined with the state of Florida's program as a whole, Saturday's road trip serves as a great measuring stick for programs.
DJ Lagway returns home
If we rewind back to December of 2023, there were some last-minute rumors that Texas A&M was making a super late push to try to convince Lagway to essentially stay home.
During his weekly SEC Teleconference, Napier addressed what really went down:
"Yeah, a lot of hearsay. You know, I think that they made a great effort there at the end when Coach Elko got hired. But in general, I think we felt great about everything. And the kid -- they were one of many teams that continued to recruit him that entire, kind of that senior year when he started to blow up. Clemson was very much in that mix, Southern Cal was very much in that conversation, A&M, and then the Gators. So, if I'm correct, I think those were the teams that were a factor."
Hearsay or not, Saturday is going to be telling for both programs.
A Gator win on the road at College Station would serve as a reminder of what a massive recruiting win Florida landed with Lagway and would start to lay the foundation for Napier to legitimately save his job in 2025, even though there would still be eight more steps Napier would have to complete.
A Texas A&M win, however, would only further paint a picture of why Gator fans shouldn't be worried about a rebuild if Florida were to fire Napier. An Aggie win would mean 2nd-year coach Mike Elko was able to take down 4th-year coach Billy Napier for the 2nd year in a row, and he did so after having to pivot QBs after missing on the homegrown star.
Lagway will say all the right things heading into this week, and Napier has tried to play off the homecoming angle.
But make no mistake, this Saturday will serve as an inflection point in Florida's season one way or another.