Five Florida Football players besides DJ Lagway who stood out against Samford

After knocking off Samford, the headline from the game was DJ Lagway. The five-star freshman QB threw for 456 yards and three touchdowns as Florida Football eventually pulled away for a 45-7 victory.

But while much of the focus is on Lagway, here are five other players who stood out in Florida's victory on Saturday.

Jake Slaughter

For as much panic as the fanbase has had about the offensive line, center Jake Slaughter has been rock solid. Against Samford he didn't allow a single pressure, but more importantly was his support in the run game.

Florida ran the ball seven times between the two guards and up the middle for an average of 6.5 yards per carry. That was almost two yards per carry more than Florida's overall team average on the night of 4.8 yards per carry.

Aidan Mizell

Even with the season-ending injury to Kahleil Jackson, Aidan Mizell saw his snap count go down against Samford compared to Miami (10 snaps on Saturday).

Mizell only had one catch, but he showcased the potential everyone has said he has ever since committed to Florida. On Lagway's second touchdown of the night, Mizell ran a hitch route, stopped, saw Lagway starting to scramble, and burst up the field, but what turned into a stop-and-go.

Lagway's pass was on the money, but Mizell deserves credit for also making the catch in tight coverage.

Tank Hawkins

One of the main arguments we here at Hail Florida Hail are going to make that Lagway should be the starter at QB moving forward is that the wide receiver group for the Gators has genuine speed on it. Tre Wilson, Elijhah Badger, and Mizell all showed off their wheels on Saturday.

Tank Hawkins is another player we have hyped at length on our site, and on paper, he is faster than all of them. He only got in for five snaps, but in the third quarter, he ran a simple go-round down the middle and outran everyone. Lagway's throw was a bit late, but Hawkins had opened up so much space that it didn't matter.

Tyreak Sapp

We highlighted Tyreak Sapp last week against Miami as one of the players who was not the problem on defense, and even though there were some moments of concern on Saturday night, Sapp often times cleaned up the mess.

Sapp had 24 snaps on the night, and managed to rack up two hurries, a hit on the QB, and a sack. He had two solo tackles and an assist.

Dijon Johnson

With the injury to Devin Moore last week, redshirt freshman Dijon Johnson saw an uptick in snaps on Saturday. On a night when Florida's defense was prone to some leaks, Johnson never had his name called in 31 snaps.

And that's a good thing.

He was targeted one time, as Samford never bothered looking his way.