The Gators go as DJ Lagway goes and one habit will decide it

One glance at the stat line and DJ Lagway didn't have a "bad" game for the Gators. He was 15/24 passing for 166 yards, one TD, and no interceptions. His 6.9 yards per attempt on Saturday matched his overall season average.

But it's also clear that Lagway is stuck in neutral in 2025 and hasn't taken the leap forward we all were hoping for, and among the things that just haven't improved have been his mechanics and his footwork.

DJ Lagway needs to improve his footwork to take the next step

If we rewind to the offseason and all the drama surrounding Lagway's shoulder, the narrative we were told is that he was still getting mental reps and he was still doing everything but physically throwing the football.

And there is video proof of this happening, which leads to the question of why his footwork continues to be such a question.

You know it's bad when national analysts are starting to pick up on it, and it popped up once again on Saturday. Either Lagway wasn't setting a base at all and was forced to throw off platform or he was setting a base so wide that he was slipping and fumbling.

The end result is that Lagway has 1,680 passing yards this season and 10 TDs off 245 attempts. This is after he had 1,915 passing yards and 12 TDs in 2024 off just 196 attempts.

Billy Gonzales defends Lagway

Interim coach Billy Gonzales didn't seem too concerned publicly after the game and defended his QB:

"Yeah, I'm just kind of looking at him. He was what, 15 of 24 today, 166 yards. They did a pretty good job on defense. They do a good job. They threw some pressures and played some two-high, one-high, man coverage, zone coverage, behind it.

They do a good job. So obviously, DJ put us in a great position to be in the game at the end of the game right now. So it was a close game, like I said. We didn't have the outcome that we wanted, but we would have never been in that situation if we didn't have DJ playing the way he was.

Thought he did some really good things. He had a career-long run. He showed that I'm not afraid to run the ball. He's a willing runner, so absolutely."

The defense Gonzales is trying to make is that Georgia mixed up their coverages, and while Florida tried to go vertical, it was tough at times with the backend coverage the Bulldogs were playing.

But missed throws like a missed touchdown to Tank Hawkins or the controversial non-catch for J. Michael Sturdivant could have flipped the entire narrative for Lagway.

But alas, the Gators fell to 3-5 on the season with question marks as to whether its five-star QB can return to five-star form.